INVISIBLE!

Monday morning.

Joan came to the school library where I worked:  she was looking a little downcast.

She was in her last year of helping in the library and was set to retire with her husband at the end of the school year.

"It's hard being old in a young ward," she said sadly with deep felt emotion.  "No one needs you."

At the moment, I was in the Relief Society presidency and we were needed: EVERY Tuesday, and many days besides that for funerals, cleaning, helping, lifting, visiting, nurturing, comforting, etc.  We WERE VERY busy.

So, it was hard for me to really understand or grasp what she was saying.

But, now, many years later, in an extremely young ward where I am retired and old, I totally understand what she was saying...

Because the old are

I.N.V.I.S.I.B.L.E.

Oh, we try to say hello to the youth; they say a cursory hello, then scurry on to chat with their young friends.

We try to talk to the young couples about their lives, their families, their jobs, etc.

They stare blankly/politely and hurry over to their young mother "friends."

I think about when I was a young mother; was I like that to the older women in our ward?

Oh, I hope NOT!

Because NO ONE

deserves to be or feel

I.N.V.I.S.I.B.L.E!