We all know some of those people who never seem to
miss a beat no matter how old they are. One that I knew well was my mom. At 99
years old, she never missed a beat. She cursed her smart phone at times,
especially when she had to upgrade her phone.
At one time, Mom did counted cross-stitch, sewed
her own clothes, and worked crossword puzzles and word search. She played the
guitar and loved jam sessions. In her nineties, she played with our family
band, and got more applause than the rest of us put together.
I inherited Mom’s love of reading. Mom was one of
my beta readers for my blog books, and she had a collection of books. She read
daily until macular degeneration stole too much of her eyesight.
In short, Mom was a Super Ager because of a
lifetime of keeping her brain active and good genetics. There was never a time
in her life when my mom was overweight. She never had trouble with her blood
sugar, and her blood pressure only seemed to spike when she had a cataract
removed.
Someone asked me if Mom ate healthy food. She
lived a block from McDonald’s and often had biscuits and gravy for breakfast
and chicken nuggets or a hamburger for lunch. For dinner, and on weekends, my
sister-in-law normally sent food by my brother. Basically, Mom ate what she
wanted to eat, but she did not overeat.
Another Super Ager trait is to talk to friends and
family often. My mom talked to almost all of her kids every day. It got to the
point where we would talk during our unofficial “scheduled” time. Mom knew when
any of us went to the doctor or had tests and would make sure the rest of the
family was informed. She enjoyed family and friends dropping by.
Mom checked off almost all the boxes on the Super
Ager checklist, and you could tell it. I think somewhere along the line, she
must have gulped water from the fountain of youth. She never looked her age,
and more importantly, as the decades flew by, she never acted like an old
person.
We have no guarantees in life that our brains will
remain healthy for a lifetime, and often Alzheimer’s and other types of
dementia are the luck of the draw. Like the old saying goes, use it or lose it.
I find that I have more mental glitches as time
goes on and a brain scan showed that I have mild white matter disease. Considering
my age and my sarcoidosis diagnosis, I can live with mild changes. I’m
confident that I still have plenty of white matter that’s healthy. My doctor
said that it doesn’t mean that I’ll get Alzheimer’s but it is important to
watch my “numbers” so that I don’t develop vascular dementia.
When I was working, I thought retirement would be
a time to relax. My writer friend, Judy, used to say: If you think you’re busy
now, retire!”
I didn’t think it was possible, but I finally had
to limit my retirement work time by creating a schedule. It certainly helps as
too much multitasking creates too much unnecessary work. I get more accomplished
when I work on one project at a time.
When I was working, I worked forty hours a week,
and I had evenings and weekends off. Well, not exactly “off” since I was a
caregiver and finished my bachelor’s degree at the same time.
After I retired, I thought it was okay to work all
day and half the night to get everything done. Now, that I’m handling my own
affairs and Harold’s Estate and Trust, I have to spend hours each week to keep
up. Throw in a little volunteer work and hobbies, and, yeah, I need that
schedule.
Although it was never my nature, I’ve disciplined
myself to be an occasional guiltless procrastinator. When I think about the
extra time it gave me to spend with my Super Ager mom while she was still with
us, I’m so glad that I did.
Copyright © June 2026 by L. S. Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
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