Thursday, March 20, 2008

A Spectacular Woman


I've been assigned the task of collecting books for my great aunt. Tomorrow, my mom, my brother and I are off to visit her. She's 91 years young and absolutely amazing. Her body may be slowing down but her mind is as sharp as ever. I believe this is because she reads voraciously. She always has. I seriously think she could be the poster child for all those ads that tell you how reading helps maintain your brain.

In her working life she was a sixth grade teacher. The town where she lives isn't all that big so she knows practically everyone. At times I go to lunch with her and her ladies. What a blast! I don't remember an outing ever when at least a handful of people didn't stop to chat with her. If it wasn't a student of hers it was a child of a student. It's now grandchildren of students. And each of them has a story that begins with "Do you remember the time..."

She was always very active in her local church up until a few years ago when she decided she'd rather just go and enjoy the calm the situation provides her. A soloist in the chior for as long as I can remember. The people who stop to say hello from that bunch always have a slightly different flavor to their stories but stories they all have.

And then there are her fellow teachers and cohorts from her youth. Talk about telling tales out of school! She's 91 and they're still talking about things she did 60, 70, 80 years ago. No matter who stops to chat, I always learn some new and interesting tidbit about that wonderful woman.

With the general state of the world today it's a nice feeling, having so many people approach her with happy memories. Well, time to get to it. It's a diffucult project because there are so many choices. Yes, my great aunt reads anything. And by that I do mean anything. She's the only person who reads everything I write. I'm sure there will be more on her later.

Reminder - Don't forget to balance your eggs today.

2 comments:

Molly Daniels said...

Damn! I put the eggs in the cake and forgot to balance them. But the cake tasted wonderful!

Hahahaha...word is 'milkn'!

Unknown said...

I tried the egg balancing thing but only cracked it. I am a egg balancing failure.

I love the sound of your Aunt - age is irrelevant and she proves that.