Saturday, October 21, 2017

I'M ONLY NINETY TWO AND HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO DO!



This will be redundant to some,but I have been asked so here it goes: I was born and raised in a small country called Iceland. I guess I was born with boundless curiosity. I always wondered what was on the other side of the ocean and at age twenty I found out...

I married an American Navy Man who brought me to America in 1945.
He proposed on our second date and I accepted. He didn't speak Icelandic and I spoke only a handful of words in English. But it worked out - we had ten children over seventy years wonderful years - until he passed away February 2015.

Growing up in Iceland, I watched the Seagulls and wondered what it was like to fly and soar like they did. At age 88 I found out when I went paragliding in mountains of Utah, what a thrill. I did it again at age 90 -
that time in Iceland!

I am very active and travel quite a bit and my Dr. asked me "what's the secret to your vitality?" I think it is just enjoyment of life in general. and like I mentioned - curiosity - and if there's one thing I've learned in life, I guess it's really turned into my motto "This is the day The Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it: So whatever there's to do, do that thing."

After raising our ten children I published my memoirs. So, I was 85, I didn't think that that was to old.

I found out that one could climb down into the cave written about in Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Guess what? When I was 90, I did it. I prepared by skipping rope and practicing on an indoor rock-climbing wall.

I'm now 92, and recently enjoyed a driving trip that took me through two Canadian Provinces, and fourteen States in the U.S., to the East coast and back home in Illinois in time to do laundry and pack again, then took off on another trip through another thirteen States - this time to the Pacific Northwest, and back

I am far to busy enjoying life to be limited by "acting my age" - whatever that means! Someone once asked "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" Interesting question...
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I look at things differently...I turn a "No" around to become "On" and always look to the positive and I don't let the tough times get to me.One of my favorite lines have always been "When you come to the end of your rope tie a knot in it and keep swinging." I've found that the more knots I have the better the grip I can get.
 Am I done? Nope.

I'm not old, just chronologically gifted. After all I'm only ninety two and have so much more to do!