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Saturday, December 16, 2017

Gertrude

This young lady has been put in my charge for the next year……or until the ‘baby’ in our birthday group turns 70. Charming in her yellow jacket and her neat coiffure, she is the epitome of standing still slowly until she is wound up. Then, she leans forward with great purpose and gets that walker going! She does have a few things she insists on - a flat, shiny surface and someone to adjust her stance to give her proper balance. If she’s on a rug, she just marches in place - and falls over. If she’s not put in the right stance - with really bad posture - she falls over. As a nurse, I know that she’s not using the walker right, she’s not standing up straight and whoever fitted her for that walker just didn’t do it right. But then, the creativity needed to design a life and how to live it just doesn’t follow details like rules. 

My birthday was November 26, so Gertrude (I’ve just named her), is a bit slow catching up. But look at that face. Would you fuss at her? I’m certainly not going to. She has never aged in the several years she welcomed our group into her life. Her joints don’t creak any more or less. Her motor still runs just fine when she’s wound up. So, she has been given a place of honour on my mantel piece until it is time to pass her on to the next person 70 years young.

“If you survive long enough, you’re revered - rather like an old building.”
~ Katherine Hepburn

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