10 Things I've Learned From My Multi-Generational Women Friends

One thing I love about being involved in a community of faith is I have the opportunity to become friends with women of all different generations.

I have friends in their twenties who are just starting with marriage or parenting.

I have friends in their eighties who are facing end of life issues.I have female friends who are single, divorced, married and widowed.

No matter their age, they each have lessons to teach me.

Ten Things I've Learned 

From My Multi-generational Women Friends 

1. No matter how old you are, cute shoes are important.

2. Women of all ages have auditioned for the position of God (some would call this control) and it hasn't turned out as they hoped.

3. Even when you are ninety, you will ask the question, "Does this outfit make me look fat?" (Sorry gals, it's true. My 98-year-old grandmother hated to be weighed at the doctor's office and I remember thinking, Seriously, I don't get a pass, even when I'm almost a hundred?)

4. Nine times out of ten when asked for a prayer request, a woman, no matter her age, will ask prayer for a family member and not herself.

5. No matter your age, you will never have your act together, never do it perfectly and will never arrive. (Women sometimes then try #2, rather than admit they are human and accept their human limitations. I like to say, "Every day I come to the end of myself and discover I need Christ." This is a good thing.)

6. Chocolate is a necessary addition at all female functions. Unfortunately, it leads to question #3 being asked more often.

7. No matter her age, all women wrestle with questions of tough love: Should I let the baby cry himself to sleep or pick him up? Should I let my daughter walk to school by herself? Is it time for my daughter to move out and live on her own? Should I let my forty-year-old son move back home or let him be homeless?

8. Favorite quote from my friend who is eighty: "My best years are still in front of me."

9. You can't have a group of women in a room together for thirty minutes before someone starts sharing their childbirth story. Complete with graphic details.

10. Women of all ages have wisdom to share.

What lessons have you learned from the multi-generational friends in your life?