We all need a little uplifting now and again. No matter our age, or which battle we are
facing I think we can all take a page out of this amazing lady’s book on how to
live life to it’s fullest as a healthy, happy person.
This is my little homage to 104-year-old Ida Hall.
*******************
I am not much of a morning person, so I take great comfort
in the simple rituals that start my days.
My most difficult maneuver is getting my feet planted on the floor and
putting one foot in front of the other to make it to the kitchen where I start
the coffee maker, feed the cats and then shuffle into the bathroom for my
shower. By the time I’m done there I am
a little wider awake and the coffee is ready to hopefully finish the job. After taking that first sip of coffee I make
my breakfast and sit down to watch City TV’s Breakfast Television.
City’s Breakfast Television is a “light” morning show
focusing on human-interest stories, entertainment news, traffic and
weather. If there is anything earth
shattering going on in the world there will be a few minutes coverage about it
at the top of the hour in the news segment.
That’s about all I can handle first thing in the morning.
“Roving reporter” Jennifer Valentyne, travels to various
locations across south-central Ontario to participate in events like charity
runs, to check out Wiarton Willy on Groundhog Day, participate in new openings
of stores, visit the Boat Show, the Car show, the Food Show, to welcome the new
Pandas to the Toronto Zoo … I am sure you get the idea. This past Monday her “Live Eye” segment was
an early morning report from St. Hilda’s Towers, a fairly upscale retirement
and assisted living facility.
I am not certain as to the number of seniors residing at the
residence, but amazingly 14 of them are celebrating birthdays of 100 years or
beyond in 2013.
WOW!
Obviously St. Hilda’s takes extremely good care of their
residents, but my mind does not travel in that direction early on a Monday
morning. Sadly, my first thought was “Geez,
when the time comes, don’t put me in there.
They don’t let you die!”
My bad.
Sipping my coffee I continued to watch as Jenn interviewed
those (mostly women !?!?!) celebrating the century+ milestone. I was astonished at how beautiful these
seniors were. They were all decked out
in their birthday celebration clothes enjoying a lovely breakfast with their
family and friends. (As I was
sitting there in my favorite, seen-better-days bathrobe)
My father was in assisted living facilities due to his
dementia/Alzheimer’s. He was a wanderer
so as his disease progressed so did the level of security in the residences in
which he lived. They were all lovely
homes staffed by extremely caring individuals.
I have nothing bad to say about any of them. But these ladies, they were a totally different story from any
perspective I have about aging gracefully.
They were sharp! No
signs of dementia or fading faculties in these ladies! They maintained their sense of humor, their
pride in appearance, their activity levels (each taking part in exercise
programs and social activities St. Hilda’s provides). Aside from age, there did not seem to be any particular
demographic represented. Accents could
be detected in some indicating Canada was not their country of origin. Some were shy in speaking in front of the
City TV camera and others were very comfortable. They listened intently and answered Jenn’s questions patiently
and thoroughly.
The ladies were sitting at individual tables surrounded by
their own families, friends and loved ones so could not compare answers to the
questions, but when asked the secret to their longevity they all agreed it was
living a life filled with purpose, fun and most importantly love. Most agreed that having good genes helped a
lot too! The part that completely made my morning and
sent me off to work with a smile was a comment made by 104-year-old Ida Hall
What a lovely affirmation of life to see on a Monday
morning.
One of Ida’s fellow residents, Eva Altay, a native of
Budapest, is by all outward appearances a feisty lady, full of gumption and
determination. She broke her hip
recently while doing Tai-Chi (of course) and absolutely vowed that she would
not be wheelchair bound. She has been
doing physio three-times weekly and credits that for keeping her mobile.
Quoting from the Toronto Sun newspaper interview “’I look after myself
completely,’ the petite former lawn bowler told me proudly. ‘I try to be as self-confident as I can
be.’”
Ida also takes part in the physio program three times a week
and credits that with keeping her independently mobile, albeit with the help of
a walker (cheerfully decked out with yellow roses). She also participates in exercise classes.
I can only hope to be as vibrant, active, sharp and happy as
Ida if I am fortunate enough to make it to some ripe old age. Personally, I think I am more apt to be the
crazy cat lady, sitting on her front porch in her purple hat, shaking her fist
and yelling at the kids to get off the lawn.
Unfortunately, the reason that Eva Altay and Ida Hall
were in the paper was not because of Ida’s upcoming 105th birthday, but because cutbacks in government
funding to the physio-therapy program at St. Hilda’s will keep her, Eva and
other residents from receiving the much needed care enabling them to remain
both mobile and non-dependent of full time care givers. That, however, is a topic for another time
and place.
Back to Jennifer Valentyne’s interviews that morning. I went off to work with that big smile I mentioned before because
when Jennifer walked over to Ida and showed her the paper, pointing out that
Ida herself had made the front page (pictured below) …
… rather than becoming flustered by her new-found notoriety,
neither embarrassed nor tickled to be on the front page of the paper, her only
comment was “Oh my! I look old.”
Bless your heart Ida … YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL!
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