Distilled Wisdom for Growing Older Without Growing Old
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I am a part of all that I have met; yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ gleams that untravelled world whose Margin fades for ever and ever when I move. —From Ulysses by Tennyson~ If there are two things I’ve learned in eight decades of living, it’s that everyone has a story—unique yet similar to everyone else—and that no one, no matter their age or life circumstances, is irrelevant. I was reminded of this once again last fall when our server at Bob Evans Restaurant in Worthington, Ohio, asked my husband Andy and me, my sister Marcia and brother-inlaw Marvin where we were from. I told him Andy and I were in town for my 80thbirthday celebration last evening with 30 of my classmates who graduated together from Worthington High School in 1961. “Wow, that’s impressive,” he said. “Why, all 30 of you are like walking libraries.” Honestly, I had never thought of myself as a walking library, or anyone else for that matter. Reflecting on this wise, middle-aged man’s insightful metaphor of a life well-lived as we drove back home to Michigan, I thought about how he was a walking library, too. Each year of life is like a book, each day like turning a page. We share our common humanity yet each one of us is unique, different from every other human being who ever lived. We learn from the past by honoring the past for wisdom gained and lessons learned. Yet we live, learn, and love in the present to positively affect our daily and future lives, as well as the lives of others. Writing these stories and publishing this book has been a journey back in time for me—a journey of gratitude rather than wistfulness and regret. Admittedly, growing older has not been what I would call a piece of cake, both physically and psychologically. Truth be told, I never thought I’d be this old, and sometimes I do long for the ‘good old days’! As our dear friend Bill Martindill, who died at age 100, always said, “Growing older is inevitable; growing old is optional.” My desire not to be stuck in the past continues to be as strong as my desire to live with joy, gratitude, purpose and meaning every day of my life going forward as long as I can. Hopefully, a few of the stories that follow about books I have read and still own will inspire you to write your own stories about things you love, for your enjoyment now and for those coming after you.
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About the Book
Distilled Wisdom is a collection of stories about 25 books Pam has read and owned for years that she will always keep close at hand, and why. The Appendix contains many prompts to help readers begin writing their own stories based on their own firsthand experiences.
The universe is made up of stories, not atoms.
—Muriel Rukeyser
About the Author
After the death of our dear friend William H. “Bill” Martindill in 2010, I wrote in my journal that someday I would write a book for those growing older. Sadly, many newly retired individuals I spoke with said they felt irrelevant. Bill died at age 100, and never felt irrelevant. Instead, he remained actively engaged in what was going on in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, until the day he died. Bill was like a father to me, always encouraging me to keep writing my stories and not to get discouraged or to be shy about sharing my stories with others. Thanks to Bill, and many others who have encouraged me throughout the last four or five decades, my dream of writing and publishing this book is a dream come true. My hope now is that after reading Distilled Wisdom for Growing Older Without Growing Old, you will be inspired to write and share your own stories, too. Write on, write on, write on, Pamela Harman Daugavietis