Marriage and Caregiving: Making it Work

Barbara Thompson

Growing up we all have a vision of what our life will look like. By the time we reach the last season of life, we might struggle with bitterness or depression, or discontent because life was nothing like we expected. Is there a way to trade in the bitterness for contentment and joy? Is it even possible to flourish as we age? 

Barbara describes how life didn’t turn out the way she expected when she decided to care for her elderly parents was not a chore but a calling. Saying yes to being their caregiver meant saying no to opportunities to continue speaking at national and local women’s events as well as having an active role in the women’s ministry of her denomination.

She describes how her marriage didn’t just survive but thrived in the middle of these hard places. 

In the book co-authored by Susan Hunt and Sharon Betters, Aging with Grace, Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture, each chapter ends with a story-teller who is at least seventy years old. Each woman gives the readers a glimpse into what aging with grace looks like for her. One of those storytellers is Barbara Thompson. In a five-minute video for the companion series Aging with Grace, Ask an Older Woman, Barbara answered the question: 

How do our expectations, plans, goals for aging influence our flourishing? 

Biography of Barbara Thompson

The week the Covid sheltering in place began, Barbara Thompson and her husband, Mark, moved from Louisiana, where they had lived for most of their lives, to Mississippi. Barbara and Mark desire is to finish and age with grace. They now live near their son and his family. Caregiving for Barbara’s parents was a ministry priority until her mother and father both passed away in August 2020. Barbara’s great joy is to, as she defines it, “sit on the bleachers” for women - praying, listening, connecting, and rejoicing as these women grow in grace. She’s a proud “spiritual mother” and rejoices to have a part in God’s work among us, through us and in us. Barbara is intentional about connecting with her grandchildren and even learning to listen to the music they love.

Barbara Thompson - How do our expectations, plans and goals for aging influence our flourishing?

Go to agingwithgrace.online for more Ask an Older Woman videos and information about Aging with Grace - Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture.