<p>As I turn 72, I recall a quote my mother considered sensible, to mull over as we get older…</p>.<p>Count your life by smiles not tears, count your age by friends, not years!</p>.<p>Outstandingly appropriate I felt, considering the mountainous showers of goodwill I receive from family and friends, far and near! My family falls in the category of “people’s persons”.</p>.<p>During my parents’ lifetime, communication was through the dial-up telephone, postal greetings and of course umpteen visitors, more so on special occasions. It was taken for granted that all were welcome!</p>.<p>The family was roped in to prepare culinary offerings. Gaiety and laughter abounded as we were thrilled to cut the cakes, blow out the candles and sing ‘Happy Birthday’! Thereby, teamwork, caring and sharing was a lesson ingrained.</p>.<p>Currently, the Covid situation limits physical contact.</p>.<p>But even otherwise, with social media and other daily pressures of living in a terribly fast-moving world overtaking ‘face-to-face’ meetings as frequently as we did in our younger days, instant connection through artificial intelligence still provides a plethora of opportunities to communicate.</p>.<p>It may be sharing a thought, a call, a wish, a prayer, a visual greeting, even gifting via a courier...</p>.<p>We can’t match meeting in person, spontaneous chatting, sharing a hug, but we can still make our lives count by using our talents to smile more and whine less as we age, using them instead to motivate ourselves and others towards creating contentment.</p>.<p>Counting our blessings through the experiences of decades prompts us to be both grateful and giving.</p>
<p>As I turn 72, I recall a quote my mother considered sensible, to mull over as we get older…</p>.<p>Count your life by smiles not tears, count your age by friends, not years!</p>.<p>Outstandingly appropriate I felt, considering the mountainous showers of goodwill I receive from family and friends, far and near! My family falls in the category of “people’s persons”.</p>.<p>During my parents’ lifetime, communication was through the dial-up telephone, postal greetings and of course umpteen visitors, more so on special occasions. It was taken for granted that all were welcome!</p>.<p>The family was roped in to prepare culinary offerings. Gaiety and laughter abounded as we were thrilled to cut the cakes, blow out the candles and sing ‘Happy Birthday’! Thereby, teamwork, caring and sharing was a lesson ingrained.</p>.<p>Currently, the Covid situation limits physical contact.</p>.<p>But even otherwise, with social media and other daily pressures of living in a terribly fast-moving world overtaking ‘face-to-face’ meetings as frequently as we did in our younger days, instant connection through artificial intelligence still provides a plethora of opportunities to communicate.</p>.<p>It may be sharing a thought, a call, a wish, a prayer, a visual greeting, even gifting via a courier...</p>.<p>We can’t match meeting in person, spontaneous chatting, sharing a hug, but we can still make our lives count by using our talents to smile more and whine less as we age, using them instead to motivate ourselves and others towards creating contentment.</p>.<p>Counting our blessings through the experiences of decades prompts us to be both grateful and giving.</p>