When I did the recent post about turning sixty, I had no idea that a few days later I would meet a lady who was about to celebrate her 100th birthday. I did not ask her permission to use her name in a post, so let me simply say that she is what I aspire to be in my senior years. She still lives alone in a modest, but nicely kept home, drives her own car (whether she should still be or not, I don’t know), has no appreciable hearing loss, uses a cane, but is otherwise mobile, still cooks, sews, gardens, and is quite active in her church, a woman’s club, and has a circle of friends and five generations of her family. Not surprisingly, they were all gathering to have a huge celebration for her. She showed us some photos from her 90th birthday party and admitted that this time she wasn’t making her own cake.

She was a delight to interview with far more stories than I had time to hear, although the woman who served as our point of contact is hoping to capture her life story for a book. The woman was born in rural Georgia into a home with no indoor plumbing or electricity and the Model-T was not used for taking the children to school. That involved a 3-4 mile daily walk. I have interviewed a number of older individuals for various reasons, and this woman’s memory was as good as any of them and better than some. I do not know how much longer she has in this life, but she has a strong faith in God, family, and friends that I think will hold her in good stead until that time comes.