I was texting with my cousins earlier this evening about her mother, who is 96 years young. She still lives alone. She still drives. She is still cognitively fine. I talked to her a few months ago. When Helene went through Augusta a tree fell on her house and she is staying with her daughter temporarily, but I've no doubt she will go home soon.
Old ladies are tough.
Old Southern ladies are REALLY tough.
My aunt has lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the Baby Boom [she contributed two babies], Watergate, 9/11, the death of her husband, and Covid.
I doubt I will live to see 96 but I hope to live long enough to do the following:
- walk along a beach somewhere in a spry way, not worrying about falling and breaking a hip
- move into a retirement home and raise some hell
- play with my grandchildren, and beat them at board games [as my memaw taught me]
- publish another book or two
About ten years ago I had a job interview for a paralegal job at an insurance company, and there were 4 people talking to me. I was in my early 50's, a mere whippersnapperess. Everyone called me Miss Dee and treated me like an oracle. [In the South we call old ladies "Miss ____[first name]" as a sign of respect. I was tempted to belch or make some other rude bodily noise, just to see the looks on their faces.
I didn't get the job but I didn't care. It occurred to me later that all those folks in the interview probably weren't born when I was in college. I probably have clothes older than each of them. I prefer to work around people who won't be shocked if I say SHIT.
When my mom turned 50 she announced she was done being nice to people she didn't like. I didn't know that before that she viewed being nice to people she didn't like as a chore. She did it beautifully. Then later she would tell me about those encounters as she sipped a strong vodka/tonic, and we would often laugh...
As my memaw taught me, old ladies can get away with saying just about anything as long as they smile and use a sweet voice. In other words, Old ladies get to speak their minds without being looked at as beeyotches or loons. I am looking forward to it! [I'm not quite there yet, despite young people calling me Miss Dee]
