To be starting a blog at the age of 89 – am I crazy? On the other hand, as my Jewish friends say, “If not now, when?”
I was born on a farm near Standard, Alberta and grew up loving the prairies, farming, and my Danish heritage. Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s, I saw the prairies at their best…and at their worst.
After graduating from the University of Alberta I worked as a psychiatric social worker for a few years and then married the love of my life. Together, we set off on a grand adventure, which included 13 moves in about 7 years – an integral part of seismic crew life in the early days of oil and gas exploration in Western Canada. Leduc #1 came in just in time to keep us from moving to South America!
Through the decades that followed, I raised a family, developed a teaching sideline in what we then called Old Testament studies, and enjoyed the opportunity to ‘give back’ by participating in community activities. Volunteers often say that they get more than they give and so it was with us – we extended our family circle with members of the Nigerian and Chinese immigrant communities, not to mention some Eastern Canadians! The friendships we formed are now into the next generation.
In retirement, my husband, Sheldon, and I travelled widely, did genealogical research on our respective families, and enjoyed our friends, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Widowed in December 2010, I am now finding new ways to be in the world.
This blog tells what it was like “back when”, but I am also an old woman with a first-hand view of the aging process and this stage of life. So, to complete my “full disclosure”, I also offer here my views on aging, written in response to an email from a younger cousin.