If the first hailstorm hasn’t ruined a farmer’s corn crop in southwest Nebraska this summer, the second, third, or fourth one has. At the end of June, an evening of golf-ball sized hail was followed the next day by winds reported to be blowing at more than ninety miles an hour. Needless to say, our little town is sporting a lot of new roofs.
On the 17th of July, at 12:04 p.m., I captured some of the severity of one of those storms with my little digital camera. A mere 20 minutes later, noticing how distinct the shadows were on the ground, I pointed the camera toward the sky – and saw nothing but blue and cotton white.
A couple of months ago I mentioned to a young man – who is in his late teens – that my 87-year-old mother has a Facebook account. His response startled me. It was something like “That’s just sick.”
This is how I interpreted his response: “I can’t believe I would enjoy anything an old person would enjoy. Facebook is for the young, so an old person on Facebook is just not age-appropriate.”
Misconceptions. I extrapolated that reaction into attitudes a lot of us may unwittingly hold, no matter how many years we have lived. As I consider the aging process and observe those who are decades older than me, I am becoming more aware of misconceptions about those we would call elderly. Read more…
– Jennifer Bryan at Wedding Reception in Houston
In a conversation about getting a (small!) tattoo
June 27, 2009
Why I Like This:
It’s a reminder to be patient with life. We don’t have to do it all now. I remember when this occurred to me, though maybe not in those words.
I must admit that at times I would view my four growing children as interruptions of my work – domestic and otherwise – until I would remember that they were my work – and pleasure. To view their needs and wants as interruptions interfered with that pleasure. Read more…
Did you know that as you age, you are more likely to use both sides of your brain?
In an intriguing report in The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, Sarah Hampton cites recent research at Duke University, in which MRI’s and PET scans of the brains of people over 50 showed that when they perform tasks, they use both sides of the brain at the same time. The brains of younger adults tend to be more asymmetrical – one side is more dominant than the other.
This was good news to Dr. Gene Cohen, founding director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who has been a gerontologist since his medical school days. His most recent book is entitled The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain. Read more…
You know the usual advice for attaining physical fitness: “Eat nutritious food, and exercise.” It also includes a caution to avoid junk food, which is not only low in nutrition but high in calories, fat, salt, sugar and other potentially deadly ingredients.
Yet, like junk food for the mind, negative attitudes are readily available. They can also be palatable, easy to swallow, even fashionable. Read more…
Pop-up Proverbs are sayings that catch my fancy as I go about my day. Some have surprising sources; all of them have made me stop and think – and maybe smile a little.
#5 – Aging
Grace: “Mother, there’s a splendid new book on avoiding old age. You ought to read it.”
Abbie Deal: “I’m only sixty-two, Grace, and I don’t see any signs of senility. You can’t avoid old age, but you don’t need to think about it.”
From A Lantern in Her Hand, page 221
by Bess Streeter Aldrich
Pop-up Proverbs are sayings that catch my fancy as I go about my day. Some have surprising sources; all of them have made me stop and think – and maybe smile a little.
#1 – Gossip:
“When you’re talking about me, you’re leaving someone else alone.”
My dad – Bruce Kitt 1921-2007
As quoted by my mother
#2 – Fear
“It is not failure itself that holds you back; it is the fear of failure that paralyzes you.”
We would not dream of kidding someone about looking Hispanic, because that would not only be insensitive but would indicate we think there’s something wrong with having dark eyes, dark hair and bronze skin.
We would not kid someone about looking obese or walking like they had multiple sclerosis, because obesity has negative connotations, and we recognize multiple sclerosis as a debilitating and incurable disease.
Yet we think it’s funny to laugh about getting old. If it’s okay to be old, why laugh about it? If it’s not okay, then should it be funny? Read more…
Everyone wants to age, unless they have some kind of suicide wish. When you’re under ten years old, you call it growing up. When you’re a teenager you may say, “When I get older,” but you say it with hope, not dread.
So when does the dread start? At what age do we stop wanting to admit we’re aging? 20? 30?
Remember how when you were 12 you wanted to be 18 and when you were 18 you wanted to be 21? Is that the age when we stop wanting to be older?
In this age of emphasis on the kind of energy that only the very young can have, some people dread turning 30, because they see only a downhill slope after that.
But I believe it’s all in your attitude, which is why I’ve decided that 106 is the age to dread. By then I’m certain to be blind, deaf, toothless and no longer ambulatory. And that’s the year my oldest child will turn 80 years old and may not be able to take care of me any longer.
So go ahead. Try to talk about aging like a teenager would: With hope, with plans for the future. Why not? Because if you’re aging, it means you’re still alive.
Grab your life, shake it up, and drink it with enthusiasm.
Let’s talk about it. What age do you – or did you – dread the most? What are you planning for the future?
Did you know that as you age, you are more likely to use both sides of your brain?
You know the usual advice for attaining physical fitness: “Eat nutritious food, and exercise.” It also includes a caution to avoid junk food, which is not only low in nutrition but high in calories, fat, salt, sugar and other potentially deadly ingredients.
