Local Business Shout-Out: Nourish and Flourish with Maria
I love Maria Claps. She is intelligent, insightful and fun to talk to. Whether you are looking to get healthy, lose some weight, sleep better, or just feel better about yourself, as a functional diagnostic nutrition practioner she has ideas and suggestions and facts and opinions on how to do each of those things!
Maria sends her customers a periodic newsletter – the one I read this morning is the one that made me realize that I want to share her information! With her permission, I am copying it here:
Me: Walking out of Trader Joes with a bag in each hand, I stride into the parking lot and see a little old lady standing near the passenger side door of her car with one bag in her shopping cart.
Lady ( unfortunately, I never got her name) calls out to me: “Boy, aren’t you strong?”
I chuckle and approach. Her voice was clear and direct.
Lady: “Can you help me with something?”
Now, I am thinking, had this been anyone else besides this sweet little old lady, my New York born and raised self woulda been suspect. But not today…I couldn’t resist her. Yup…once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker.
Lady: “Can you put this bag in my car?”
So ofcourse, I pick up the bag which had a half gallon of milk and one or two other light things in the bag and I put it in the front seat. As I am doing this…the following discourse happens:
Lady: “How old are you?”
Me: “I’m 47, how old are you?”
Lady: “Well, I will tell you but you’re not going to roll your eyes and go “ohhhhhhh” on me, right?
Me: No, I will not do that.
Lady: I am 95.
Me: Wow. You’re still driving?
Now this is where it gets kind of sweet and sad…..
Lady: I bought this car 17 years ago. My daughter told me I needed to buy a good car because she wasn’t going to be around forever. My daughter died 17 years ago.
Me: Honestly, I don’t really remember what I said at that point…perhaps I offered my condolences.
Lady, with extreme spunk and a slight raise in the volume of her voice: “And I am going to keep on driving this car until it gives out”
Me, wanting to end on a positive note: “Good for you”. And I end by giving her a high 5, which she enthusiastically accepts and slaps my hand with intention.
I go to my car and the flood of tears starts…because the only thing going through my mind at the moment is that children are NOT supposed to die before their parents…and I’m filled with sadness for those that have had this happen. I’m also filled with gratitiude, because as tough that as it gets, I believe life is beautiful and God is good, no matter what.
So, as difficult as life can sometimes get, please keep putting one foot in front of the other. I later told my mom about this story and she said “maybe she’s lonely and you could take her out to lunch”
Darn….I’m not always a quick thinker. I think I would’ve LOVED that. This super-ager of a woman probably would’ve made AMAZING company. I hope I run into her again!
Do you know what a super ager is? It is people 95 and up that don’t get the quartet of the so-called disease of aging: cancer, heart disease, diabetes and alzheimers. In my work as a health coach, it is my desire to help people avoid these diseases before they start. As the 95 year old lady’s life shows, anything is possible yet anything can happen. While she made it into old age with her spunk intact, her daughter did not. Although anything can indeed happen, I don’t believe in adopting a fatalistic attitude towards aging and health. I believe in being proactive.
That’s why I LOVE the work that I do in helping people get healthy or discover the underlying causes of their health issues…it seriously energizes me and drives me every single day.
What can you do today to cultivate gratitude in your emotional life AND health in your physical body? I would love to know!
Thanks for reading, and allowing me in your inbox, it’s because of you, and the feedback that I get, that I take the time to write and share. I hope you enjoyed this story!
Warmly,
Health Coach
Trained in Natural Hormone Balance and Optimal Nutrition
Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Pracitioner
Trained in the Gottfried Protocol for hormone balance
www.NourishandFlourishHealth.com
