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Monday, August 23, 2021

Marking another anniversary around the sun

 A few days ago my neighbor, Jean, across the way in the next building, turned 97.

So I am in awe of her advanced years, and how she has a life that seems peaceful and maybe a bit boring. She walks just fine, sometimes with a cane. She wears a neck brace, but puts her hair in pin curls at night. She broke her neck a few years before I met her, and prefers to keep neck braced all the time now. I guess those muscles don't work anymore.

Jean also is deaf. She's sweet and always smiles and says hi, but I never can answer in a shout loud enough. My next door neighbor used to go sit with her on her chairs outside her door, and they'd chat about current events. They'd share reading the newspaper daily. Now my next door neighbor has moved to a nursing home after a fall, and Jean doesn't have a regular conversation with anyone in her door area.

Her son often  brings her a new potted plant (he's manager of a nearby manufacturing company) or a balloon for her birthday, or a meal to-go.

Well, this is how I see her. I look every morning to see if she's up yet. Sometimes she beats me, but this morning I raised my kitchen blind before she opened her bedroom and living room blinds. It's always great to see them and think of her sitting in her easy chair reading the paper.

So, you expected my birthday post to be about me?

Nope, it's about Jean. And do I want or expect to live to 97? Not really. That's what's on my mind. I'm pretty grateful to be able to see a woman that's not all that different from me, just plugging along. We have some very different details to our lives...yet here we are going about our days looking out our windows to the same lame dogwood tree. Just like Jean, it's still alive, and going through the changes of the seasons.





My mother made us matching dresses...my second birthday I think...maybe third? I was a war baby, so didn't know many things had been in short supply, like butter, sugar, toys made of metal...what you don't know you don't miss. 

WW II was going on and on. My father worked in an aircraft manufacturing plant as an accountant. He must have had something keeping him from enlisting (besides me) but I never knew what it was. And now I'm a pacifist, even though I always give credit to those who do fight for our freedom.

Today's quote:

We find our quiet minds as we sit still with our breath, as we make small jottings in our books, and as we practice silent waiting. Then one day, “the little ways” open into broad expanses.

MARV AND NANCY HILES

15 comments:

  1. I liked reading about Jean and like how you connected it to you and your environment. Happy birthday, if I haven't wished it already, and even if I have.

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    1. Thank you very much! No matter how many times you send good wishes!

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  2. Yep, getting older is a mixed bag of blessings and curses. But Happy Birthday anyway, Barb!

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    1. Today I'm feeling fine, and thinking about maybe 80 at least! Thanks for your good wishes!

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    1. Thank you so much. I appreciate your good wishes!

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  4. I am confused but I will wish you a happy birthday even though I might have read this wrong. I'm going by your blog title. It's nice you have someone to look out for and vice versa.

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    1. Thank you Marcia, I appreciate your wishes, even though I see you're confused. It's the Leo/Virgo effect, I'm sure.

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  5. What a lovely picture with your mum! And whatever the day, enjoy it and count your blessings.
    My grandmother was 103 when she died peacefully in her sleep. My father, her youngest and only surviving child, is fully convinced he will reach that age too - he is 92 and not very well but very stubborn. I hope to not have to grow that old.

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    1. There are some things that have more importance in life than the number of years we live! Thanks for your comment. I am counting my blessings. Two friends knocked on the door a few hours ago, and just sang the birthday song to me. What a joyful gift of their love.

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  6. Happy birthday to you! I hope you have a wonderful day in every way.
    I can't imagine living to be 97 years old. I would have to live for 28 more years. That's. LONG LONG time. Your neighbor sounds like she is doing it well.

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    1. I'm sure Jean is happy in her life. She doesn't go out many times or places. I like to go somewhere every day. Yes living that long is hard to expect, but then again, everyone I have discussed this with who were in their 10th decade said they were also surprised, and did it just one day at a time.

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  7. Happy Birthday Barbara! What a cute photo of you and your Mom in the matching dresses.
    Take care, have a great day!

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    1. Thanks. Those were cute dresses, and I hoped to do the same with my daughters...but I had 3 sons only.

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  8. I once asked my grandmother if she wanted to reach 100. "Not really", she replied, "but I expect I will when I'm 99!"

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There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.