It’s the end of another year, and at the risk of sounding like a Hallmark greeting card, may this year bring you new happiness, new goals, new achievements, and many new inspirations to your life. Okay, that was a Hallmark greeting card!
To begin the new year, I would like to continue my annual tradition of sharing some life observations I have collected as I stumble my way through this puzzle called “aging.”
You may remember many of these observations from last year — or, like me, they may have receded to the back of the line in your memory bank. The first 15 are from Gary Young, the “Sage of Hood River,” and the last 15 are what I have picked up from the many older adults I have known.
• I’d put on a good face, but I like this one.
• Death ends suffering, but not sorrow.
• Being happy takes practice. Daily — perhaps hourly.
• People seldom die on their own terms.
• I have nothing left to be embarrassed about; just ask my nurse.
• I’ve been wrong about many things, right about a few, and it’s hard to tell the difference.
• Not everyone has the opportunity to grow old.
• Giving a young person something of yours creates a treasure and reduces clutter.
• There’s no sense taking things to the grave; there’s no room.
• Most things mean something else.
• It’s best to face the music; you can hear better.
• Too often we don’t know the pain of others.
• The trouble with laughter is that we don’t do it enough.
• There are things I can’t remember, but I wish I could.
• There are things I can’t forget, but I wish I could.
• What is good for your heart is good for your brain.
• Don’t let the fear of looking bad, stop you from trying.
• First steps to improve your memory: pay attention and focus.
• Most things don’t matter, but a few really do.
• Growing older beats the alternative, but it is hard work.
• Accept what you can’t control — and then adapt.
• Live in the “now”.
• Know what you want and let others know — particularly your adult children!
• Adeline’s five “S’s” to avoid: sugar, salt, seconds, soda, and shortening.
• Isolation kills. Stay connected.
• Keep moving!
• See the world with virgin eyes, and you’ll find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
• Experiencing grief is hard, really hard, but it’s normal, natural, and necessary.
• Dance as if no one is watching.
• Life is too short not to be involved in something silly.
And one last thought. This journey of ours is not about living longer. It’s about taking care of ourselves and others so we can gracefully live the rest of our lives with courage, compassion, and meaning.
That’s it — again. Have a wonderful New Year!
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I can’t keep track of what I am doing now, let alone what I have done. So, tell me if I have used this Brain Tease before.
In the TV series “Cheers,” Cliff Clavin was the bar’s resident know-it-all and was usually overly verbose when a simple word would do. Try to figure out these well-known expressions rewritten into “Cliff-ese”.
1. Projecting short, loud, canine-like noises erroneously toward the top of an incorrect arboreal plant.
2. To subject a slender illumination device to rapid carbonization on its antipodal points.
3. To slay a brace of avian creatures with just a single petrous conglomeration.
4. Like sending dense shelly concretions through the air to fall in front of stout-bodied, artiodactyl creatures.
•••
The name of the cooking show that British-born chef Graham Kerr hosted from 1969 to 1971 was the “Galloping Gourmet.”
I’m back home, but not soon enough to list all of you who sent in the “Remember When” answers from last week and the week before. I’ll catch up in the new year.
I’m curious to know how many of you remember this popular children’s television program suggested by Rebecca Abrams. For this week’s “Remember When” question, what was the name of the children’s television series hosted by the actor Andy Devine that was broadcast on NBC from 1955 through 1960, and included characters Midnight the Cat, Squeeky the Mouse, and Grandie the Talking Piano? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or mail it with a pair of Buster Brown shoes.
Well, it’s been another week, remembering to look back with gratitude, forward with hope, and up with trust. Until we meet again, enjoy a wonderful new year and all its blessings.
•••
“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.”
—Bill Vaughan
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Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.
Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) — Wednesdays with music on second and fourth Wednesdays; Mt. Hood Town Hall (541-308-5997) — Tuesdays; Hood River Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center (541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333).
For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services: Goldendale office (509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068), and in Skamania County call Senior Services (509-427-3990).
Answers:
1. Barking up the wrong tree.
2. Burn the candles at both ends.
3. Kill two birds with one stone.
4. Casting pearls before swine.
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