Aging 101

We celebrated the 101st birthday of a resident last week. 101. Pretty unbelievable. All of her family and friends gathered in our meeting room which was decorated in balloons and flowers, and filled with love. It was a sweet day. I've had the privilege of knowing a handful of residents over the age of 100, and I am always in awe of them. It makes you wonder what their secret is. One lady at my last place was 105 when I left.... she was still walking, talking, and thinking with no limits whatsoever, and her only impairment was her vision. When I asked what her secret was, she told me to never stop laughing. In fact, she was known for her "dirty" jokes in the facility. And I found out that she was a champion skeet-shooter in her seventies. Imagine that....

This one lady who turned 101 last week is mostly sedentary and the only activity that she seems to truly enjoy and benefit from is the communion service provided by volunteers from the Catholic Church. We visit her every week and the volunteer will recite the prayer with her before she receive communion, and she never misses a beat. Sometimes she even leads him in the prayer. It's obvious that this has been a very sacred, meaningful event for her all throughout her life and I am always touched by how alert and oriented she becomes during that five-minute visit. The last time we visited, the volunteer recited the prayer with her, gave her the wafer, and we said our goodbyes. We were almost out the door when we heard a high-pitched voice behind us.... "No vino?!"

Another secret discovered!