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We started out as a group of 40 old broads and have grown to 78 plus. Each month a few more are tracked down and gleefully embraced as one of the Sisterhood of ’68.
This year we all turn 65. That is an age that seemed ancient when we were students at West Covina High School in California. Yet here we are, applying for medicare and some retiring from jobs. Yet none of us seem like our vision of who 65 year olds are supposed to be.
We have entered into the “Land of After 65” and each of my sisters (and a few guys who happen by) are my beacons on this road of change.
There is Joyce who has faced medical problems that would have discouraged most of us. She instead began to post “happy feet.” Each post reminded us that life was about silliness and connection. Oh and we also discovered she was a shoe guru.
We watched Joyce march though medical test and procedures and celebrated with her when she went into remission and then got all clears.
We learned and still are learning from her about living fully as she goes to ball games, plays in the sand and hugs hubby and babies.
We began taking our own happy feet pictures and posting them on Facebook. I took this one with my daughter-in-law in Malaysia after a neighbor painted our toes.
Charly took this one after biking up a steep tour to Breckenridge in Colorado.
Charly at 65 has reinvented herself several times over. She is one of our role models for seeking serenity. She has hiked, biked and served as a forest ranger in the summers. She makes new friends with ease through hiking meetups and yet is peaceful and content with her own company.
She commented once that “I hike because I go somewhere yet nowhere. I walk because I go outward and inward………….Alone yet in a community.” To us that is the sign of a life long learner who is curious about her world around her and within her. We like that.
Then there are those in the group who seriously ponder the choices in life that we all face. .. No names here.
I am happy to report we all made wise choices and came out smiling from our sisterhood tour of the Paso Robles countryside. Every one of these sisters inspire us to embrace life right now, not later. That year I especially needed their passion for life for one of my sons had died the year before. They taught me about companionship and resilience and living “After.”
I am not the only one who has had losses these last few years. Some of our sisterhood have seen great sorrow. Husbands, siblings and children have died. Some, like Joyce, have been seriously ill. We value the days we have and mostly can laugh at the new aches and pains that occasionally let us know we have body parts we took for granted.
Growing older together has given us a unique insight into the beauty of timeless friendship. We often have said we wished we could download all we know now and share with the younger generations.
We have gained wisdom, some from solving challenging life mysteries.
*We finally know what happens to lost socks.
*We finally know that laughing at ourselves is far more useful than self doubt.
hmmm I had something profound to share at the end of this. Oh well. Another time.
(c)shaun brink 2015
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