Busy Bee

Due to our own, um, advanced age, more or less all of my friends have now either lost at least one of their parents or have had some kind of health concern related to them by now. Last week a friend whose parents are both still alive lamented the fact that they do not really have a circle of friends any more as their closest friends have sadly died already and so they really rely on one another and neither of them really has a hobby other than watching TVand looking after the grandchildren. She asked me how my mother (78 years old) was coping, now that she has been widowed for half a year. I am so incredibly grateful that despite not having quite the same amount of energy she used to have, she is still a powerhouse and example of resilience, discipline and resourcefulness that puts her daughter to shame. While we text more often than we used to when Dad (who basically was her "PR spokesperson" and the main "WhatsApper" of their household) was alive, we have kept up our biweekly phone dates and whenever I call her it is hard to keep track of all her appointments, some of them arranged very spontaneously. An account of a typical afternoon of hers sounds like this: "I had originally planned to meet X for a gallery walk downtown, but then her husband's hospital appointment got moved so she cancelled on me short notice, but just as I had hung up, Y called to ask if I had any plans for the afternoon and I went to her for a glass of wine before we headed to the cinema. Her friend Z whom I know from our Qi Gong class was also there and gave us a lift." Needless to say, her energy combined with her interests and vast circle of friends and acquaintances is a huge relief to me, who lives more than 300 km away. One's attitude really makes such a difference in old age and I really hope I will be like her (minus the widow part, hopefully).