Survivors

Old is a good thing. Some people never get a chance to be old. At what point did I start bragging about my age? I don’t remember, but here I am – 94! Anyone that old has survived a mountain of things. We’ve been at an ugly stage of growing up, sometimes scorned, bullied, or the butt of the joke. We’ve lived through awkward, embarrassing teenage years. We’ve been hopelessly broke, eating things like cheese and rice balls and endless hot dogs and beans. Our husbands had to go to war and leave us back home with babies and small children or we lived in Army housing on dusty bases in nowhere land. We’ve survived marital problems and problems with our children, jobs, money, neighbors, health, heartbreak, and loss. Some of us have had to bury a child. We have taken care of aging parents and have seen them to their final resting places. We have taken care of everyone else, often neglecting ourselves, and we have cried alone. But now we are old and can tell our story.