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Health & Fitness

The 94 Year Old Blogger

 by Barbara Berkeley, MD

I write alot about health and wellness.  As an obesity specialist, my goal is to get people to clean up their diets, start living more like they were meant to live, and get off their medications.  This idea is to help them to live longer and with less disability.
But if we are lucky enough to achieve long life, what will we do with those added years and how will we manage them?  I've often thought about the fact that we live in a truly new world--one in which it is very possible to live many years beyond what used to be considered a "normal" lifespan.  In my own family, we've had many relatives live well into their nineties and even to greater than 100.  
I want to find role models for how to be productive throughout my life and for how to continue to be included in the mainstream.  It seems to me that people who are over 80 often move off into a kind of "elder" world, either through relocating to assisted livings or elder communities, or even more frequently because we younger folks cease to "see" them.   In order to stay relevant, it's vital for the older generation to stay connected.

So, I've been searching for role models. Luckily for me, I don't have to look too far because I have one of the absolute best.

 My mother Frieda is going to turn 95 in September.  She is smart, pretty, and completely connected with the world.  For 71 years, she was married to the love of her life, my father Jerry.  My parents' marriage was the stuff of Hollywood movies; a true happily-ever-after story.  Over the course of my entire lifetime, I can't remember them ever fighting.  They were just completely in love.  


When my father died last year at age 99, we all thought that my mother would withdraw into herself.  It seemed impossible that she could go on without her lifetime partner.  And of course, she did go through some dark days.  But she was pulled back into the world by her interest in just about everything and her love of people.  She rebounded and continued to live, despite the enormous void in her life.

And now, less than a year after my father's death, my mother has decided to connect even more.  She has started a blog!

At 94, I have to think that my mom is one of the oldest bloggers on the internet.  But why should that be?  The internet is the perfect place for older people who may have  difficulty getting out, traveling, and mixing with others as younger people do.  The web creates a place for instant connection and for shared experience.  And most of the older people I know have been able to learn to use computers with just a bit of tutoring.  Kindle, Facebook, blogs, and social media sites can truly open up a world.  We should be doing more to promote their use in people who can't connect in other ways.

My mother's blog is called Doing Ninety.  It is giving her the opportunity to talk about how she lives (optimistically) and what she does (a lot more than you'd think!).  Now she is branching out into poetry and product recommendations!  I'm hoping that readers will start asking her for advice, as she is very wise and excellent at providing guidance on just about anything.  

They say that age is just a number.  We all know that this is simplistic.  Aging is tough if you are feeling ill, are limited, or if you are depressed.  My mother's blog proves, though, that with a love of life and the desire to connect....all things are possible. 

 
 

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