THE KIND OF OLD LADY I PLAN ON BEING ONE DAY
Cindy Maddera
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The weather app on my phone told me that the low was forty, but the high for the day would be in the sixties. I could do forty, I thought even as I heard the furnace kick on for the house. I zipped up my sleeping bag coat, added a layer of gloves under my mittens and backed the Vespa out of the garage. Turns out that the extra layer of gloves did not keep my finger tips from freezing and I could not feel the tops of my thighs by the time I reached the parking garage. Forty degrees is colder than I had anticipated, but I only had to travel four miles in it. Four miles is a blink of an eye when traveling at my usual speeds. Surprisingly, a blink of an eye is all the time I need to imagine myself at age eighty, zipping around cars and flying over speed bumps on my scooter.
I want to be doing exactly that as an old lady.
When I think about the old lady I want to be one day, I always think of Tao Porchon-Lynch, the 101 year old yoga teacher. I went to look her up for this entry and discovered that she passed away in February. I’ve read her autobiography, but as I read through the obituary on her website, I was once again floored by this woman’s extraordinary life. I am inspired by her optimistic view and her inner joyful light that shown through her eyes and smile. A pinch of sadness hit me when I heard of her passing. I suppose I thought she would just go on teaching yoga and shimmering with joy for ever and ever. Except I guess maybe she decided that she had done enough shimmering and it was time to move on from this world.
Some time ago, I wrote a little story here about an eighty year old master surfer and maker of surf boards. I gave her the name of Ida Merryweather and last we left her, she was convincing her apprentice to help her sneak her friends out of the nursing home to go surfing. She was partly inspired by Tao, but also an imagination of the woman I would like to be at age eighty. I want to start the day by hearing my old joints pop and crackle as I get out of bed and stretch, gulp down some vitamin C and scramble up an egg for breakfast. Then I want to pack up whatever little terrier I have at the time (probably named Josephine because of genetics and how my Pepaw had at least three Penny’s before he died) and head out on the scooter. No plans. There might be stops for coffee or stops for photo taking. Me and the pup will take a picnic break in a park and go for a walk. I’ll do yoga and feed birds. Maybe I’ll start knitting again. I will collect a group of senior citizen friends and we will go once a week to play bingo and once a year on a big adventurous trip like touring the pyramids or camping in Africa. We’ll take up surfing and swimming with sharks.
Know that the joy of living is right inside you - Tao Porchon-Lynch
I am in training for those days now with brisk morning scooter rides and honoring that instinct to stop and take the picture. I’m going to torture class to keep these bones strong for swimming with (an if need be, fighting off) sharks. I’m eating greens and tofu because it’s good for me (also because I like it), but on occasion, I’m having ice-cream for dinner because that’s good for me too. I dance in the grocery store when a good beat is playing through the store speakers. Sometimes I sing along to those tunes. I do this because I really really believe that the knowledge of my very own inner pool of joy, is what’s going to allow me to be that spry, yoga practicing, scooter riding, bingo hopper, globe trotting, shark swimming eighty year old woman I plan on being one day.