Phoebe Turns Ninety

By Lois Jamieson

Last Friday, I called Phoebe to wish her a happy birthday. This is a memorable birthday for her.  She is ninety! She is no-longer an Octogenarian and I'm not sure what a person in their nineties is called - I''ll find out soon. Now our blog should be called "Ageless at 80 and 90. I'll get Phoebe's comments on this when she stops celebrating.

She wasn't at home when I called, so I left a message, and called her back later. When I did get her, she had just arrived back to her home after a huge shopping trip with her daughter. She said she bought so many new clothes that now she must clean out her closet.

Phoebe is the most remarkable woman I know. She looks terrific, and is full of new ideas and has plans far into the future.  I'm lucky to call her my friend and partner. In a few weeks, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will gather in Scottsdale to celebrate with her and her dear husband Herb. I'm invited!  

 

The Return

by Phoebe Maurer

The Return

By Phoebe Maurer

Phoebe has overcome the setbacks and she is now here to share with the world her unfinished dreams, her tapestry of almost 90 years, living a colorful, daunting and romantic life. 

 Herb and I just celebrated our 60^th anniversary, recalling the many highlights, good, bad and beautiful. I am now facing the reality of growing older by the minute with each days visit to the medical facility that prods us on with copula, tablets, syrups and enlightening counseling. As four score and ten approaches, my mind is churning out new ideas and projects to start, so I am hanging – not up. 

My pen pal, Lois, is tired of writing solo, so the copilot is charging up the jets motor of her imagination. My hands are fine – no arthritis, which I cannot say, for my many rusting joints that creak with age.

 If I had a choice, would I want to turn the clock back 20, 30 or40 years, with a guarantee that I wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes or experience the traumas? No! Emphatically no! I am now the woman I respect. My thoughts can be spoken with ease, but also with care.

 I was once told I had a mind like a steel trap. It rocked me back on my heels, but didn’t change my thinking overnight. My business experiences necessitated clout, especially from a woman. Would the same be said to a fellow male?

Welcome back Phoebe. We have missed your words of wisdom and your humor.

Quotable Quotes

By Lois Jamieson

“In this country, some people start being miserable about growing old while they are still young.”    Margaret Mead

 “It takes a long time to become young.”    Pablo Picasso

 ”One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them.”    Virginia Woolf

“Keep working as long as you can. Remember, you can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old…There’s an old saying “Life begins at forty. “ That’s silly; life begins every morning when you wake up. Open your mind to it; don’t just sit there, do things.”     George Burns

“No wise man ever wished to be younger.”     Jonathan Swift

“Let us respect gray hairs, especially our own.”