I bumped into Gracie in the hallway of her apartment building about a year ago. I was delivering a meal for Meals on Wheels to her neighbor, a woman who had just had her 95th birthday bash. When Gracie stopped to talk to me outside her door, I almost fell over when she said, “Yes, my friend in there is 95, and I’m 94 1/2!” She looked not a day over 70.

Gracie invited me and my two kids in for tea, and we stayed for over two hours. She zipped around the apartment preparing tea and cookies — teaching my rather uncultured children the fine art of a proper tea party. Watching her energy and zest for life, I made a mental note to get to know this spirited woman better. When we left that day, I had every intention of returning for a visit shortly. But the best plans of a woman with young children …

This fall we began attending the community church in town on a more regular basis, and it was there that I crossed paths with Gracie once again — she was my son’s Sunday School teacher. The moment I saw her walking around the table cleaning up supplies at the end of the lesson, I knew that I had to make a move. This woman radiated such peace and happiness. “Gracie, would you like to have tea?”

And so it began – Wednesday tea with Gracie. I look forward to it all week. She has the water boiling when I get there, the teapot warming, and the cookies on hand. The table is set with a beautiful floral china set that someone from church mysteriously left at her door. And Gracie is always dressed as if she’s going out for a nice dinner somewhere — makeup on, hair set, and donning two or three necklaces and a different pair of earrings every week.

On our first “date,” I showed up in my ‘around the house’ clothes that I often wear around town, too – but really shouldn’t. My hair was still in the knot I put it in to wash my face in the morning. And I definitely wasn’t wearing any jewelry. But a comment that Gracie made that day stuck with me, and because of it, I arrived in jeans with combed hair the next week.

Over tea, we were talking about her relationship with her mother, who lived with Gracie and her family until she passed away in her mid-80s. When her boys grew up and moved out of the house, Gracie and her mother spent a lot of time at home alone. “But we always made our faces and dressed up for each other,” she said. “My mother didn’t want to look at an ugly face and neither did I, so that’s something we just did for each other.”

I had never thought of it that way. I’ve certainly subjected many a friend and family member to “not-so-good face and hair days.” Not to even mention my husband! Gracie had a few things to say about that too. “My grandmother gave me some good advice,” she said. ” She told me that every day when the children were otherwise occupied, I should lie down for ten minutes before my husband arrived home from work. That way I would greet him with a relaxed, happy face when he walked in the door.” Gracie put on a nice dress and swept her hair into an “up-do,” too — if you’re not smiling that 21st-century-mom smile already.

Things are certainly different today. But Gracie did provide me with some food for thought. I’ve been a little bit more intentional about the way I present myself on a day-to-day basis since then — even if it only means putting a brush through my hair and slapping on a little mascara.