Live a life worth following

by Connie Clark & Csa
| October 31, 2012 9:00 PM

A wise gentleman I knew once said that, "We should live a life worth following." When I heard this profound statement, I stopped to ponder the depth of its meaning. Do we all live a life worth following? How does that relate to the way we live and work in our daily lives? Would our children and grandchildren want to follow in our footsteps? Would we want them to?

I looked up this term on the Internet and found a vast amount of posts with everybody's opinion on how we should accomplish this goal. Rather than read everyone else's opinion I decided to figure this one out myself and look at my own life.

I remember when my children were small and I would bring them along with me when I was volunteering in our community. I don't think that it was a conscious decision with the purpose of teaching them the importance of helping someone in need. Truthfully, it was because I had no one to care for them while I was gone. I do however see that those afternoons made an impression on them. As adults, they both volunteer in the community and so do their children.

When my parents needed help at home, my husband and I became the caregivers. This went on for seven years. Because of that experience, I decided to continue helping the elders of our community and opened Home Helpers. Now, almost five years later, I see both my children working with elders in their professional careers. I don't think this was something they planned on early in their lives but somehow they both were moved in that direction.

I may not have been the perfect parent but I'm proud to see them following in some of my footsteps; at least they chose the good ones. When my husband and I get to the point that we need help at home, like my parents did, I would hope that my children would do the same for us. We can't control the future but we can model the behavior we would like to encourage. To me, that's living a life worth following.

For questions regarding home care, contact Home Helpers at (208) 769-9560 or go to www.CoeurdAleneHomeCare.com.

You can listen to Connie Clark this Saturday at 4 p.m. on KYMS 89.9 FM.

Connie Clark is a Certified Senior Advisor at Home Helpers/Direct Link. She can be reached at (208) 769-9560 - North Idaho or (509) 999-8440 - Spokane.