Fiction

I have a friend who'll be 81 in a few more weeks, and she's a role model for me, in part because she moved two-thirds of the way across the country about three or four years ago after her husband of 57 years died. She didn't stay in place and just become someone barely alive, as apparently most of her friends and age-mates have become.

The other thing that I really notice as I pass through life, is how some people age a whole lot faster than others. If people start thinking of themselves as old, then they become old. If they have health issues, if having grandchildren makes them think they're old, they become that way.

I do like it that sometimes when I tell someone a couple of decades younger than me my age, an expression of total shock will come over their face, and I can tell that it's because they thought I was younger, not older than my actual age.

Oh, and with 20 copies of the book at your library, you're not 144th in line, but more like 7th. You'll hit the top of the list faster than you'll realize.