I came across this article from Ryan Holiday the other day and had to smile.

As a person who has been fortunate to know all of his grandparents, people who lived and served through world wars, immigrated to start fresh in their midlife and lived over eighty years, there’s an incredible amount of consistency in those “lessons.”

My grandmothers would always complain I was too skinny, then feed me ice cream sandwiches, chips and extra helpings of second dinner… for breakfast.

My grandfathers worked in their yards, drank wine and asked me such profound questions as, “Why aren’t you married yet? I was married at seventeen.” They also never spoke about the war, despite serving in it. Ever.

All of them spent time just sitting on their porches for hours on end, sometimes not saying a word.

They gave thanks to God, loved their families and never complained. They just did what they had to do, lived out each day and watched the news at night.

They also never said much, but said a whole lot in those few words. That’s why my favourite line of the article is this one:

“A couple words is all you need when you’ve seen it all.”

I only hope I can reach that level of peace and wisdom.