Day 245 Nonagenarian Attitude

August 11, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

Determination at 95.

Today was too hot and humid to walk in the park and do battle with aggressive deer flies so I wound up on the treadmill at Big Vanilla gym for my daily exercise. With ear buds plugged, I trudged along and noticed an elderly black man walk by once, twice, three times and then four. Each time I waved and smiled at him and he nodded and smiled back.

As I was leaving, I saw him sitting and taking a break. I asked him how many times he usually walks around the gym and he said he always does six, so he had two more rounds to go. “You know, I’m 95,” he said to me, with some pride. I learned that this nonagenarian is Logan and I told him that I admired his attitude.

“You got to keep doing it because nobody’s going to do it for you. It’s all up to you. Once you’re down, there’s no getting up.” He went on, “Independence is important. I do everything for myself. I pick up my own medicine from the drugstore. I don’t want to go into a nursing home. When the time comes that I can’t walk, I’ll crawl.” I’m sure he will. “I don’t eat meals with my kids because I don’t want them telling me when and what I’m going to eat.” He told me that he’s an avid golfer and even plays in Myrtle Beach. I told him that he’s an inspiration.

I gave him a hidden hug, a positivity/mental health project that my friend Andi has started. I gave him a small cutout circle with a hand-written quotation and a ribbon. It said You are responsible for your own happiness. Logan smiled again.

My gift today is a conversation with Logan.

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Read more about the Hidden Hugs project:
http://hiddenhugs.weebly.com/about.html
https://www.facebook.com/HiddenHugs

Day 246: I'd Rather Be a Horse

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 41 - New Tools, New Tricks

January 19, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Every day I use technology to learn, create and communicate. Some people might add play games too. What wonderful tools we now have at our disposal. They allow us to research without leaving our homes, create photos without the smell of fixer on our hands and communicate with people all around the world with only a few taps of our fingertips.

When I was a student at Brehms Lane Elementary School in Baltimore, we used fountain pens in the beginning because ballpoint pens were not in everyday use then. We used chalkboards and a coveted helper chore was to be chosen to clap the erasers for our teacher. In those days, we had to painstakingly add huge columns of numbers with pencil and paper to find the total; today, within a few seconds we can have our answer. When I was in first grade, hand-held calculators (a sort of mini-computer) were not in use yet. It is interesting to note that perhaps hand-held calculators are no longer in broad use today because we can use our smart phones to do math problems.

I received an e-mail today from my 93-year-old friend, Doris, who is in my poetry group.  Although she’s not as quick as most young people are when she uses her computer, at least she has not refused to learn how to use new tools. She has added computers to her communication tools and the Internet to her information tools. It is heartening to see that at least one nonagenarian has allowed herself to grow and learn new things. I hope I am as open to change as Doris is when I am in my 90’s.

My gift today was an e-mail from a nonagenarian.

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> DAY 42 Flying Away

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html