Let's hear it for longevity!

I love having really old relatives! That means I might make it to a nice old age.

Earlier this year Ed and I met an aunt of mine in France who had just turned 100! She was getting a little forgetful (that is a lot of years to remember, after all), but still lived alone with some help and was doing great!


This past week Ed, his older sister (who just turned 82!) and I met Ed's last remaining aunt who just turned 97! Her name is Stella, she lives alone in a condo she bought in 1975, and she's quite amazing. Has a young woman who comes in twice a day to help her with meds and meals, but other than that she gets by all by herself. Still reads voraciously - in fact she had just gone to the library and picked up about 8 new books! Recently she and the caretaker took a trip to Sausalito to visit one of her "girlfriends" who had her 93rd birthday.

As we were driving there we were wondering if she would remember Ed, if she would be very coherent, etc. We walked into her condo and there she was, sitting in the chair with this yellow 2-piece outfit on and a big smile on her face. I would not have guessed she was more than 80 at the most! We spent 2 hours with her going through old family photos and talking about "back in the day." In fact, she pulled out her boxes of photos so we could take whatever we wanted. She has no children and doesn't want things to just be thrown away when she dies. So we found some great photos of Ed's father as a young man and many other treasurers. I'll be on another scanning frenzy soon.

She told us some fun stories about Ed's grandmother and great-grandmother. Some interesting stuff about her own life. And she told us about her husband, Elmer, who passed away four years ago. She's lonely - no kids and most of her friends are gone now. And how she's ready to join him.

All in all, a very touching and wonderful visit. And inspiring. We're so glad we connected with her and plan to visit her again.