“If a family has one old person in it, it possesses a jewel”.
Chinese proverb
My brave old Grandmother is in hospital AGAIN after taking yet another nasty fall. She is 96 now and has managed to outlive virtually everyone she knows, including her youngest child. I feel so sorry for her. It must be hideous falling at that age.
She will no doubt live to be 100. Her aim in life has always seemed to be to simply stay alive. She doesn’t drink or smoke. She eats porridge every day for breakfast and cooks a healthy meal for herself every day. She is never ill, has all her own teeth with no fillings, can see perfectly well and turns her hearing aid off when bored with the conversation. She has remained incredibly active and gardens every day. She can still touch her toes. She likes to be useful.
I’m not sure I get it. I don’t know if I want to live to 100. As Jack Dee once said, “why would you want to be old enough to dribble and poo on the carpet?”.
But as Yehudi Menuhin says:-
“It is perhaps life’s greatest accomplishment to live to old age, maintaining one’s wits, one’s sense of humour, one’s health and one’s charm”.
I wish she was closer. I can’t even go and visit her in hospital at the moment. I hope she doesn’t mind.
I think she’s the bravest woman I have ever had the privilege to know. It takes great courage to simply keep on going and never give up.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:20 am
Thanks for your tribute to grandmother. Haunting thoughts.