Excerpt from Jane’s Diary
OCTOBER 19, 2008
It is good to be aware of all physical changes taking place when you’re over eighty. It makes you aware, alert, ready, able, and interested!
Life is an adventure right to the end. MAYBE IT’S AN EVENT.
My great-grandmother, Esther Davenport, came to visit us when, as children we lived on the Catalan coast of Spain. She was legally blind, but felt she could see enough to travel from Buffalo, alone by ship to visit us. She did, to the amazement of all who helped her on her way. She returned home three months later, by herself with the help of strangers, and family members at each end of the sea voyage. She wrote eloquently for the newspapers of the adventure, speaking specifically about the gorgeous amethyst colors of the Spanish flowers and houses; the greens of pine trees; the sapphire blues of the midday skies; and the golden beaches at sunset.
So don’t’ worry about age, don’t talk about it. Keep on cooking.
Stir smoothly, firmly, as if playing a violin — kindly, gracefully.
But stand firmly, move accurately, straighten your shoulders and neck; only now and then introspect. Feel yourself working for you. If you’ve gone before, you’re good enough to point the way,