You may ask, Nicky, what encouraged you to be bold about being old?
Today, I took a peek inside Florida Scott-Maxwell’s book, The Measure of My Days, and found this quote:
“Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate.”
Scott-Maxwell 82 when she wrote these inspiring words and The Measure of My Days was published when she was 85. I am nearly 80-and-a-half, so it appears that I’m just getting started.
Are my eighties all passionate? Absolutely not. One of the things that most deflates me is how many things I want to do and feel passionate about, but find I just don’t have the energy for. I also really feel the downward pull acting on my skeleton and muscles, leaving slouched.
But my eighties are passionate when it comes to writing and entertaining. While I’ve told you about the former plenty, I don’t think I’ve shared as much about entertaining. I love having people over to our home. Part of what makes entertaining possible as I age is that I don’t worry as much about the house being neat and tidy, which would expend too much of my precious energy.
Our front door is placed in such a way that I usually don’t know our guests have arrived until the doorbell chimes. When this happens, I am so excited! I shout to Wendell, “They’re here!” Hugs all around is the standard greeting, since to touch actual flesh and blood humans is a sensory delight. Being short, I stand on my tip toes to avoid having my glasses smashed. There’s a little bit of chaos as they their take coats off, hang them up and then we look one another over. We don’t always express it out loud but I imagine we’re all thinking and celebrating the fact that we’re all alive. I savor and celebrate the sweet tender feelings of being together again. Usually there is a lot of laughter – and that feels so good. Often we say – it’s been too long – when did we get together last?
Most times, we sit around my grandparents’ antique round oak table and after we eat dinner, play Pepper. I note how these special people take turns grappling with a series of bad cards and admire them for their fortitude. I stifle my disappointment when I make a bad bid and lose the hand. I love it when Wendell the scorekeeper makes jokes about docking the other team because of a rule he just created and explains in great detail. I see him entertaining our company with his comic remarks and remember how much I love him and his ability to keep us all laughing.
You, as my reader, may be witnessing the unfolding passions of eighty-plus-year-old Nicky as you continue to read Exploring the Mystery blog posts.
You don’t have to be eighty! What are your passions? If you had to name two, what would they be? Please let me know!
IMAGE: The photographer, Sherri Farmer, wanted me to pretend I was making tea. I am passionate about Elevation Tea’s blend of echinacea, yarrow, & lavendar with the fun to say name: Oh Be Joyful Blend.
