A few weeks ago I called to check in on my mom because I had heard about some awful weather that was pummeling the area just south of where she stays during the winter.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just waiting for this wind to die down so I can take my walk.”
To be fair, my mom was unaware of the terrible tornadoes that had swept through Fort Myers when I called that day, but I still had to chuckle. Neither rain, nor sleet, no threat of night will keep Peggy from her rounds.
Today, my mom turns 83 and I am lucky enough to celebrate with her. We rose early to toast the sunrise, and then she’ll be heading off to her tennis match.
My mom keeps a rigid schedule that includes a rotating cycle of at least two exercises a day — swimming, walking, tennis, biking, dancing to music from the 50s and marching to band music.
Yesterday, a typical day for her, nearly wore me out. We walked, toured a diversity display she has been anxious to show me, had an early lunch, swam, walked some more, picked up our dinner (at 3:30 p.m.), strolled down to the beach to have a little wine at sunset, and headed back to eat. In between, she worked on her crossword puzzles. She does three a day.
My mom hangs out with equally motivated people. Currently, she and her tennis buddies are engaged in a spirited defense of their courts against the encroachment of the pickleballers.
“I’m too young to play pickleball!” she says, because she prefers a full court to run her opponents around.
Having met them a few times, my money is on the tennis players.
Recently, my mom has become fascinated with the term “super ager” because she knows so many of them, people who look decades younger than they are and whose physical and cognitive abilities have remained extra sharp. In the coming weeks, she’s going to guest blog about some of them and I think you’ll be as impressed as I am.
For now, though, I’d like to use this space to say Happy Birthday Grandma Peggy! So glad I can spend it with you.
Now, when do we nap?
