I have to admit to liking interesting dates when they come around. Not that anything significant will necessarily happen, but dates like 22.2.22 not only look pleasing to me, they roll rather nicely off the tongue. For that matter, I should have also been paying attention two days ago when we had 20.2.2022. What is it that fascinates me with such trivial details? I spend a lot of my time working with numbers as I shuffle paper and invoices and whatnot around my desk, and there was a time I excelled in Maths, but that was a lifetime ago before a rather unlikeable Year 11 teacher extinguished that particular interest.
I ran into a friend this morning whose mother was born on 22.2.1922, so if she were alive she would be turning 100 today. When I see pictures in the paper of family celebrations where the family’s most senior member has clocked up that magic century, I wonder about the amazing changes such people have seen in their lifetime, and to what they attribute their longevity.
They have seen and endured wars and the loss and trauma such conflicts bring, the Great Depression, fallen victim to illnesses that once killed which we now take for granted are managed by immunization. They’ve seen world leaders, presidents and prime ministers come and go through the revolving door of politics, and a world ever changed through the marvels of invention, engineering and technology.
But at one level our centenarians simply get on with life while all that plays out in the background. The importance of living simply, caring for yourself and those around you, building solid relationships, being resilient, optimistic, learning new things, living in the moment, these and more are what keeps their minds active and their hearts engaged.
You must keep active, or you will just wither away.
Always be involved in some activity.
– Miriam Henson, 105
Author Joanna Nell is also a GP with a particular interest in women’s health and care for the elderly, which has placed her in a good position for creating fictional characters who might be old in terms of years, but still wanting to make their mark, not wanting to be relegated to ‘past their use-by date.’ For one of Nell’s characters, Hattie observed that…
The passage of time was marked in weak tea and uninspiring biscuits.
- The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home
None of us want to spend our final years feeling useless, simply marking time until we check out. Whether or not we reach a ripe old age we all want to feel useful, that our portion of time on Earth is not being wasted, that in whatever small way, we are making a difference. My mum made it to ninety, and my dad to ninety-three, so I have some longevity genes coursing through my veins somewhere. If I’m to follow the same pattern I still have a way to go before calling it quits, so will I make the most of the rest of the time allotted to me?
It is very important to have a widespread curiosity about life.
- Irving Khan, 106
I’ve surpassed my three score and ten, so everything from here on in is a bonus. There are more years behind me than before me, and there are times when I wonder what on earth I’ve been doing with my life. When I was 64 I penned notice of my retirement intentions to leave office work at 65 so a replacement could be found. Nothing seemed to be forthcoming so I’ve continued, albeit with less responsibility, for I’ve found unless I’m actively engaged in something productive I feel at a bit of a loss. The time I’ve gained by pulling back in one area, I’ve picked up in another.
The days may feel long at times, but the years pass quicker than you can imagine. Birthdays and Christmases can all become a blur if you’re not paying attention. There are no hard and fast rules about retirement or how to handle the ageing process. We will all come at it from our own perspective, out of a life marked with its own share of joys and challenges, achievements and setbacks. Making the most of the sum of the parts that have made up our life, creating memories and keeping them alive, while at the same time not losing that desire to learn and do new things, that’s how I want to keep going until I get to the end of the road.
It doesn’t have quite the same ring about it, but I wonder what I’ll be doing on 28.8.2028?
