Since quite a few Steemians enjoyed my article about being in my 70s, I got to thinking about friends I have who are still going strong in their 80s. Really, of the people I know who are that age, most of them made this zestful list. Maybe if you get past a certain point in life, zest kicks in!
So here I will introduce you to these six. I’m using their initials since I haven’t gotten their permissions for the details, except for the last one. (My husband Kelly took that photo.) They are in the order in which I met them. I’m not sure of their exact ages but I do know they are all 80 or more and none have reached 90 yet.
I first met HB and his wife MB in the 1960s, lost track of them for some time, and then became neighbors for over 20 years. He’s a retired educator who is often out making something in his shop and she is a quilter and seamstress as well as a dedicated gardener. Recently they moved to be closer to their older daughter and two more generations down. They walk a lot.
I met SS and his friend JR about 25 years ago. At the time they were both living in an intentional community in New Mexico and I spent several weeks there with my husband Kelly. SS and Kelly share a lot of interests, from natural building to early sacred sites around the world. SS’s wife has since passed, after cooking an amazing number of fabulous meals. SS moved back home to Canada after that.
JR was single back then and while we were there he fell in love with a Canadian artist and writer. I still remember her moving into his motorhome by them taking her possessions there in his wheelbarrow. She was on vacation and I suppose she eventually went back to Canada and got the rest of her stuff. But she barely comes into the story as she’s not quite 80. JR retired from teaching philosophy at a college level, and whenever we see them now, he always manages to work in his favorite saying, “Being IS!” We get together for dinner now and then as we live near each other.
VP lives in the small town in Colorado where Kelly and I lived for many years. His wife took care of our mail for the five years we lived in Mexico. We got back to the town in time for a lot of good visits with them and their cat (who had once been our cat) before his wife passed. For a while VP was rather desolate, and we worried about him, but he bounced back and is just now publishing a book of poetry.
Another poet is BBM whom we met a couple of years ago after we moved to New Mexico. Her husband is cousin to our next-door neighbor, so that makes us practically family, the way things are done around here. Here’s a link to a book of narrative poems she wrote about aging.
AC is Alexsi Courrier and he is a writer and artist we met recently. I did a blog post about him and his quilter wife, the many children’s books he has written, and his faith path, worth going to if only for his artwork in the books!
There were going to be seven friends in this article but I learned while writing it that one of my oldest friends (most long-term as well as being 84) passed this spring, peacefully one afternoon in her home. Such is life, such is death. I remember her telling me she was going to put my email on a list of people to be notified when the time came, but I guess that didn’t happen. I'm glad to know she didn't have to go through the huge forest fire that raged recently near where she lived.
Everybody in this group is active creatively. I think that is part of why they are all still here!