At 20, we worry about what other people think of us.
At 40, we don’t care about what other people think of us.
Weekend Cheer from The Queens of Quite-a-Lot
At 60, we realize they haven’t been thinking about us at all!
And, I think that’s a very good thing. Happy Friday.
I’m kicking up my heels and drying out my webbed feet in sunny Palm Springs this week. There is nothing better than hanging with a flock of silver haired snowbirds to make you feel young. Last night we met Betty and her two girlfriends at the front desk. She’s my kind of gal. Sporting a bejewelled pink jean jacket, a crown of silver hair and a hearty laugh, this lovely lady is a role model for living and loving life. Betty is looking for fun and I’ll bet she even turns a couple of old foxes’ heads and gets called out for a whirl or two around the dance floor when they bring out the Tommy Dorsey cover band.
Click on the photo below to watch an awesome dance number. I think it’s time to dust off my dancing shoes. How about you?
Life is really about grabbing the gusto no matter your age or the color of your hair. To quote the lyrics of a favorite country song ~ “And when you have the chance to sit it out or dance… I hope you dance.”
Ensconced in her window seat in the front of the plane, tray table down, sorting through all of the treasures she had stashed into two cotton carry bags, a most delightful slip of a woman looked up as I moved in to take the aisle seat. She smiled at me and her blue eyes twinkled. Wispy white hair peaked out from the sides of her knit cap and a fringed pom-pom danced on top. The word elf came to mind. I sensed this was going to be more of an adventure than my usual Portland to Phoenix flights and boy was I right.
Her name was Violet and when I sat down next to her on that flight a few years ago, she was 86 years old. She wasn’t an elf at all. She was a treasure and a very special gift.
For the next two hours and twenty minutes Violet regaled me with stories of her life and the wisdom of her years. She talked and talked. I listened and learned. For Violet, life had always been, and still was, one hell of a grand thrill ride. At 19, as a young war bride, Violet and her baby moved to Portland where she found work in the shipyards. Yes, she was the real-deal Rosie the Riveter. Husbands, jobs, kids, moves, grand kids, births and deaths – the daily act of creating a live well lived that often seems so mundane to many of us – came vividly to life as my new friend spun out tale after tale. Just an ordinary life some might think, but oh not so. What Violet knew and what so many of us miss – what makes every life special and unique and amazing – is when we pay attention to the details, embrace the challenges, open to the opportunities. It’s in how we choose to experience each of our moments. Violet chose to see adventure. She chose joy and she chose to stop and savor the tiniest details. She has never stopped exploring or learning. She loved meeting new friends. And, at 86, this beautiful lady was just beginning her latest adventure as she flew across the country to Oklahoma City to take up residence in a new apartment. She couldn’t wait to settle in, get herself a computer and start using the internet.
Opinions? She had (more than) a few – on the health benefits of dark chocolate and avocados. That most doctors didn’t know what they were talking about and nobody would benefit in the long run from popping prescription drugs. She told me she loved people but was pretty much over sex.
Two hours flew by (pun intended), we landed in Phoenix and reluctantly I had to leave. I gathered the paperwork that I not even bothered to look at and stuffed everything into my travel bag. As I stood in the aisle waiting to de-plane, Violet called out “Goodbye Nancy! Goodbye. And say hello, say hello to all the people I haven’t met yet.”
Over the next few days, Violet kept coming into my mind. Not her words so much, just a feeling. You could say this was just a chance meeting with a lovely old lady on a plane. I choose to believe that Violet was a gift to me on that day. A beautiful reminder of things that I often forget in the busyness of being – I forget to remember to PAY ATTENTION. If you ask me what I did last Tuesday, I’m not sure I can recall. It’s all so much, so fast, so busy and it often feels like I’m just sliding through. Getting it done, but not savoring it, not really seeing it, sometimes not feeling it. The magic is in the moment and Violet knew that instinctively. Me? I’m still learning.
It’s that time of year when we pause for a few moments to remember all that we are grateful for. Today I am grateful for the special “elfs” that pass through my life sprinkling the wisdom I need, just when I need it most.
Thank you Violet, wherever you are. I hope we meet again someday.
Happy Thanksgiving to All.
Meet Margaret Dunning, at 102 years very young, I’d say she’s definitely a classic and so is her 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. Yes, Margaret still drives and in fact she is still showing her classic beauty at concours d’elegance. In a recent appearance at the Pebble Beach Concours, she told the audience that she changes her own oil and spark plugs and that “Before old age overtook me, I could scoot under the car very nicely.” Margaret owns several classic vehicles. The Packard may be her favorite, but these days you’re like to see Margaret driving around her hometown of Plymouth, Michigan in a 2003 Cadillac DeVille. It’s her “everyday car”.
Margaret, you are an inspiration to us youngsters in our 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. A true classic. Keep on driving!
Both videos are from Utube.
Luigi
In times past birthday celebrations always involved expensive restaurants. We enjoyed the luxury of a good meal while someone else cooked, cleaned and served. I loved it then and when the time is right I still do. But, as we pare down to the essentials of what makes us happy, we’re circling back to the old joys of coming together in the new/old ways I mentioned in my previous post.
Last week we celebrated our special birthday girl’s 29th year in grand style. Not in a 4 star restaurant, but gathered around the kitchen island – laughing, sharing, cooking, sipping, eating, eating, eating and talking about important issues. Wow! If we’d had time to throw in a board game, it would have been perfect.
How great is it when you go to the mailbox and mixed in with the bills, political ads and offers for credit cards you find THE KEY. The key means you have a box waiting. In this case, the box held a bright shiny new pasta maker. I can’t begin to say how tickled I was – still am actually, by this lovely little guy. We call him Luigi the Linguine Maker and this guy is good. Ok, I have to admit that if you are simplifying and reducing, a pasta maker is not going to fit in the backpack and rollie. I know that and still, I wanted him. What could be better than making pasta from scratch to go with the luscious tomato sauce my friend and I spent so many hours canning over the summer and the fresh parsley/walnut pesto I made from the dark green Italian parsley the hubs grew in pots on our back deck.
Hand pressing the raviolis – not as easy as your Italian grandma makes it look.
I wanted to test this baby out right away, so I invited our son and the birthday girl over to make their own birthday dinner. I’m thinking home-made spaghetti with tomato sauce. They say “Okay, let’s make ravioli”. Oh to be 29 and fearless in the kitchen. So, of course, we made it all. We started at 3 o’clock, stopped to taste a bowl of our fresh fettucine at around 5 o’clock and finally sat down to our birthday feast at 7:30.
The final menu? Fresh garden salad, freshly baked foccacia bread, cheese ravioli, delicata squash ravioli, mushroom ravioli with a mushroom cream sauce, tomato sauce, parsley pesto sauce and an olive oil/walnut/fresh parm sauce. “This is the best pasta I have ever eaten!” said my husband, his cheeks bright red from the warm kitchen and two hours cranking the pasta maker. I couldn’t agree more. Four cooks in the kitchen was a crazy dance. Two dogs snoozed just far enough away to keep an eye out for anything tasty that might hit the floor. I was pooped beyond belief. I think we used every pot, pan and dish we owned, but we mastered the art of pasta rolling, sort of mastered ravioli and created a birthday dinner we will always remember.
The birthday girl finally sits down to enjoy her favorite – Mushroom ravioli in a mushroom cream sauce and she made it all herself. Yum-o!
So, who’s up next for Pasta Night at Casa Sims?
Excuse me, but “What the hell happened here in the Pacific Northwest?” Two weekends ago it was practically balmy. So warm and sunny that I actually got a bit of a sunburn on one of our weekend treks. I guess I was hoping I lived in San Diego and our glorious weather would last forever. Apparently not the case as the cruel hand of winter swept in last week and now here I sit – warm woolie socks, slippers, my favorite cords, not one but two sweaters and a scarf. This morning when I went off to Starbucks, it was still dark and I had on my winter coat and my GLOVES. I didn’t want to risk hat hair all day, so I let my ears fend for themselves. Pretty soon we’ll have to actually turn on the heat. I’m cheap…so we’re holding off until we can actually see our breath when we’re sitting in our recliners watching TV. I think that day is coming – maybe Friday.
No, it’s NOT snowing yet in Oregon.
Really, I’m not sure I can take change that comes so fast. Is it advancing years? I’m wondering if a few people didn’t actually get whiplash it all changed so fast. And, I feel the cold. In my bones. In my arthritic fingers actually. That’s new and I’m not totally thrilled about it either. I used to look forward to winter – at least for a while. Snowy days. Driving up the mountain to take the kids skiing and snowboarding. Putting on the chains. Not being able to get the chains off. It was all part of the FUN. I’m a Canadian. I know cold and snow. Apparently I lost my cold tolerance when I finally lost my accent. Just thinking about being cold makes me a wee bit cranky. I finally understand why old people move to Florida or Arizona for the winter. Old bones need heat. I won’t be going south for the winter this year so I guess it’s time to do some serious attitude adjusting. Is that covered under Obamacare? I think cranky qualifies as a pre-existing condition. Better yet, maybe I’ll start with hot chocolate + a shot of something warm and sunny in it. I feel better already.
Now this is my idea of a great winter day. Sleigh ride with my girls on Mt. Charleston near Las Vegas.
It really tickles me when a lovely moment of serendipity strikes. You never know when you go out the door for a bite of lunch who you might meet. Well, that moment of serendipity struck today when I slipped down to Nordstrom Cafe for a quick mid-day break from the office. It was noon and the place was packed. I ordered my half salad – chicken/apple/walnut/feta – yum! and had to squeeze myself into a tiny table along the wall between two other tables. I settled in, put on my reading glasses and pulled out my current lunch time companion – 65 Things to do When You Retire.
It’s a compilation of essays from people like Jimmy Carter and Gloria Steinem and many lesser known but still very interesting and inspiring folks. They are true stories of people in retirement who found meaningful new opportunities. It’s sort of a user’s manual for making the most of your retirement. A few moments later, the lovely woman on my left (I believe her name was Carol) tapped my arm and asked “May I take a look at your book? I’ve just retired.” “Of course” I said and I passed the book over to her table. I then took the opportunity to introduce myself and share my newly acquired knowledge about retirement and traveling on the cheap. Carol was interested, excited and open to all of the possibilities and adventures ahead. I told her about the backpack and rollie plan and how I had come to be a blogger. I learned about her career as a teacher and her recent trip through Spain, Italy and France with her daughter who was sitting across the table. We chatted for quite a while about home exchange, house sitting opportunities and even WWOOFing. She was a sponge for information and I was thrilled that I had lots of ideas to share!
It was a lovely exchange with a truly lovely woman who, like so many of us, is excited and eager to get on with her new life. Carol, it was a true pleasure to have met you. I’m glad fate guided me to that tiny table in the middle. You brought a spark of joy to my afternoon. I hope we meet again somewhere out on the road. I’ll be the one with the backpack and the rollie.
Back in the middle of August, after way too many months of procrastination and good intentions that never got me making any real progress, I watched a TED talk about doing something new for 31 days. I decided to use this as my motivator to get myself back in the gym. A place where everybody used to know my name and now all the faces were new. I committed publicly in this blog post.
It’s been almost two months and well past the 31 days so I thought it would be fun (and humbling) for me to check in and let you know how it went down. Some good. Some not so much. Oh, I started out full speed ahead. Every afternoon after work I walked over to 24 Hr Fitness and right in through the big front door. This was the piece that had been eluding my fitness routine for a while. Walking IN the door. I told myself it didn’t matter how long I stayed, I just had to go in and do something. I went. I stayed. I worked out. I loved it. I loved myself for doing it! All was good. Day 1 was a success – days 2, 3 and on through 10 – all good. Then I hit a bump in the road. Work got in the way and I ran out of time. Could I have gone at 7:30pm or 5:30am? Yes. Did it even cross my mind? No it did not. So, I missed a day. But then I got right back to it. The not so good news is that the rest of my 31 days went something like this… gym, gym, something else, gym, something else, gym, gym, and so on. Adding them up, I did 20 days out of the 31 that I committed to. I don’t pretend to know anything about baseball, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a very good batting average.
So, I missed the mark… a little. I only beat myself up a tiny bit because the really good news is that I am still going to the gym regularly. In fact, I’ve settled into a really good routine of Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. We’ve been doing 6-8 mile hikes on these lovely Fall weekends but, now that the rains are back, I’ll probably add one more day to the gym. Or not.
All in all. I’m calling it a success and I’m glad I took the challenge. I ended up right where I hoped to be. As the hubs says – I’m cranking weights and pounding it on the treadmill – at the gym.
I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! If I’m dreaming, please do not pinch me.
I have been thinking about walking the Camino de Santiago for a while now. But, in my heart, I knew I was way past that stage in my life where I wanted to walk all day and then sleep on the ground or in a hostel with the smelly, partying masses of young folk. Not to mention carrying all my belongings on my back. Don’t get me wrong – I love young people. I used to be one. Truly, some of my best friends are young. And, I still like a good party! I do not think of myself as old and crotchety, no matter what my kids might tell you. But, when it comes to SLEEP. Now that’s a different matter entirely. Let it be known here that I am not nice (and might even be considered cranky if not downright crotchety) when I don’t get my full eight hours – preferably in comfort and relative silence. So, I wasn’t sure how to make this particular dream a reality. It was definitely a conundrum.
I firmly believe that there is always a way and a brilliant solution came to me in the form of an article written by a woman who had completed what I like to call the “relatively civilized, not too hard but still challenging, with support if and when you need it” version of walking the Camino. Marly Tours was our answer! This discovery made it all seem do-able. All we needed was a little time, a moderate amount of money and good walking shoes. As it turned out, I mentioned our idea to a few friends and now we are a party of six. Hubs, me, my sis and three women friends. It’s a big year too – my 65th birthday, my sister’s “something that ends in a zero” birthday, hubs and my 10th anniversary. Definitely a year worth marking in a big way. We’ll walk about 10-12 miles a day at our own pace and meet up along the way. Then we’ll gather together every evening for wine, dinner and story-telling before bed. We’ll be a small group of no more than 14 Pilgrims + our Marly “wranglers” who will make sure we don’t get lost, carry our luggage, provide snacks, first aid and sag wagon support if needed.
So… we’re off. Well not until next September. Exactly twelve months from this week. Call me a light weight, call me soft, call me old, but do not call me between September 17 and 24, because I won’t be home. I’ll be in Spain, crossing one more item off my bucket list – walking at least a small portion of the Camino de Santiago.
Staying in small hotels like this…
Sleeping in a comfy bed like this…
Walking along roads and paths like this…
Now, I just need to find a home exchange so we can stay an extra week to explore the rest of Spain. I’m working on that too.
Want to hear a secret? I love to rock out in my car. CD blasting, hands drumming, head bopping and lips moving in an all out sing-along. And I know all the words too. Tune? Well let’s just say people prefer that I sing alone. Yep, I’m that crazy old lady singing to herself in her SUV. You know the one. Oh, I know what they’re thinking when they pull up beside me at a stoplight and I do not care. I’m in my own little sound booth on wheels and laissez le bon temps rouler.
Today it’s warm and sunny. The sky is a brilliant blue and when I went out at lunch it just felt like a Jimmy Buffet kind of day. I slipped Beach House on the Moon into the CD 
player, turned the sound waaay up and we were rocking it all the way to the post office. Its been a while since Jimmy and I shared a song and I had forgotten that the old guy really is a poet – with his crazy lyrics that speak right your heart. Just when you need to hear them. The song Oysters and Pearls is one of my all time favorites. Thanks Jimmy for reminding me to get out there and go for all the gusto this Life has to offer. “Some make the world go round. Others watch it turn.” Guess which one I’d rather be. You too, I’m thinking.
Some people love to lead
Some refuse to dance
Some people play it safe
Others take a chance
It’s something more than DNA
That tells us who we are
Its method and magic
We are of the stars
Some never fade away
Some crash and burn
Some make the world go round
Others watch it turn
Still, it’s all a mystery,
This place we call the world
Most are fine as oysters
While some become pearls
I chopped the song up a bit to shorten it for this post. (sorry Jimmy) But, here’s the music and all the lyrics if you want to pour yourself a margarita and sing along.
justabackpackandarollie 