Ever Growing, Ever Green: A Conversation with Ruth Auffarth

We live in a culture that idolizes youth but no matter how hard we might try, we cannot escape the fact that unless we die young, each of us will experience aging. Is it possible to be “ever growing ever green” as we age? Is sixty really the new fifty? What does it mean to flourish in old age? What if we don’t have energy to do all those wonderful things we did when we were younger? When should we start preparing for old age? Is there anything glorious about growing old?

In this free-flowing conversation Sharon Betters, age 70, asks Ruth Auffarth, age 88,  these questions and more. So grab a cup of coffee, a glass of iced tea, sit back and listen in as two old friends share thoughts about what it means to grow old with grace and dignity.

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 Ruth Auffarth. In a five-minute video for the companion series Aging with Grace, Ask an Older Woman, Ruth answered the question: 

What two life disciplines helped prepare you for aging?