How does the concept "artful aging" relate to your life?

Connie focuses on goals and action:


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On the inside, I feel 25 or 30 but, my body is aging:

" My motto is to keep moving and don't think old....if you think old - you become old!"

"Live life to the fullest ....move to the highest level of growth you can. " Aging isn't the problem....It's how you deal with it.

* Signs of aging: I wouldn't know my age unless I look in the mirror. This summer I noticed that my skin is looser and more wrinkled.... less energy. There are things one can do, but I don't want to look young.

I want to look my age, but with class and dignity.

My dentist asked if I wanted to fix my chipped tooth. Why would I want to do that? This is the way I am. A chipped tooth is not life threatening and I'm not self conscious about it.

Younger people discriminate against you. It is subtle, but you are treated differently. In a younger group, they dismiss you as "over the hill."

American society doesn't fully appreciate the value of experience. Aging doesn't mean incompetence... (maybe it does if you are a gymnast). I have two friends. ..one a patent attorney and the other a therapist. They are 69 and 70 years old respectively. They love their work and don't see any reason to stop.

Turning 70 is a bit daunting....my mother died at 70, and my father, at 74...insurance actuaries say 76 for women....Things start to happen.

I now can accept what I can't change....work with one's limitations.

As we age, we know more about ourselves, the world, and human nature.....I was a mature youngster....but I would have handled my dad differently...I didn't have the wisdom then that I have now.

* Fashion: Many older people try to look younger...trying to preserve youth. ....It looks inappropriate...There is a delicate balance between something that looks right...not old...and not like a "teeny bopper." Clothes are a problem....everything is styled for the young...It's hard to find something I like....I still like dresses.....Jewelry as an art form....

* Lifestyle: I have the mentality of a younger person...There are so many things I want to do...Nothing is holding me back ....except some health issues. I'm a little more vulnerable. There are four issues that are challenges; my heart and back being the major ones. If more than one is compromised at a given time....it can affect my lifestyle. Long flights have become problematic. I do not ski or hike alone as I once did.

Travel around the country....I've got to do it now...There are 10-15 years left....but I can't focus on that....otherwise one gets frantic and stressed.

My next trip with our Airstream trailer is to Salem, Oregon for the Wally Byam International Airstream Rally...then we will head East taking the Northern route across the country....We will stop in Minnesota in the small town of Luverne where my mother was born and raised. We will spend time in Maine so Carter can see the boat builders....then down the coast to New York, Virginia and North Carolina....We will return over the southern route...four months on the road. It is such fun to plan....get all the maps and books...and discover what makes an area tick in our expansive USA. There is so much territory to explore.

* Goals: I want to visit all the National Parks and discover why each one is unique...why it was sectioned off as something worth saving.

Dollhouse: I will work to complete my beach cottage in miniature.

*Art: I appreciate the different mediums....I want to do watercolor....I have to just do it.

*Relationships: I want to maintain relationships....people with shared interests...not related to age. This is perhaps the most important goal - family and our chosen family (friends) are very special and important.

* Retirement: I have never had a problem filling time there are books, concerts, my own neighborhood to explore (Pleasanton, CA) ...and San Francisco and the surrounding neighborhoods....I've never even been to the SF mint!

I am less interested in material things......less interested in what people think....

Be quiet....I used to get up in the dark...at 5:30...all day long I was multi tasking....after school I would have to set up for the next day....conference with parents, night meetings....run the mall to get a birthday gift....crawl into bed....and start the whole thing over the next day..... I can be quiet now...slow down, reflect, meditate.....

As we age.....I notice things more because I'm not running around so much....the garden, clouds... intensity of colors...taking a long time....savour life...

*Isolation is deadly: There is a need to integrate the generations...the older need to work with the young... it would take some people with a vision...some do it of their own volition....On our Court we have young families...we look out the window and see children playing and riding their bikes.

* A little of my history: I was brought up in the Anglican Church...I am not religious in the organized religious sense, but nourish my spirit through integration with nature...My dad was born to aristocracy in the British West Indies....He was well educated...Scottish backround...They were well to do ...on a large plantation with servants.

My dad came to America to go to college...Ryder College in New Jersey. He received an accounting degree...He and 3 friends took a graduation trip in a Model T Ford across the country and stopped in Luverne, Minnesota....The Telephone Co. was having a picnic and the telephone operators shared food with the traveling dapper men. He met my mom and they fell in love. My dad wrote my mom while traveling all the way across the country....He came back for her, and they were married in 1931. She had an 8th grade education.....He, from a family of doctors, lawyers and successful businessmen.

My mother was courageous, smart and artful:

She was an adapter.... resilient... They moved to Minneapolis....and then to New York.... she had never been to a big city....she learned her way around....and entertained her husband's distinguished associates in grand style....She then drove a car with her two children across the country to Seattle....Resources dwindled...and in Fontana, Ca....she dealt with the need to rinse out coffee filters and live on food stamps..

*Recent memories: My mother had lots of health difficulties, but she didn't complain.....she was always busy with another project...she was a woodworker..."When you have limitations, find something new". She loved junk yards. She made a table for my kindergarten class....She came with me to open house....There was a small child from the class...all he talked about was my mom ..."She's not just sitting around in a rocking chair....She's building things!!!!" The children loved her.

Her health issues didn't define her life. She could build things...wire a lamp,...a great cook. She won an angel food baking contest! She was "my lifelong friend and teacher...a wellspring of kindness and wisdom"

A favorite quote:

" Look forward to tomorrow....this gift of time is all we have"

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