The group of fellow students I was in Germany with for six months in 1960 has kept in touch over the years. Every ten years we write what has happened in the meantime. This is what I wrote this year:
I figure Andy’s and my main job right now is to keep as healthy and happy as possible so our daughter Kaitlin doesn’t have to worry about us. We’re realistic enough to know that can’t last forever, but so far we’re doing amazingly well. We still live in an apartment down here in [our town] (have been here since 1974) and Andy is still fit enough to go up to our land in the mountains (elevation ~ 9000 feet) almost every day. He even goes up on the roof to check his solar heating panels from time to time. Is that silly to do at 85 years old? Not as silly as not living our lives to the fullest while we still can. He does wear a Garmin satellite tracker so I can know where he is if he’s late, and it has an SOS button so he can call for help in an emergency.
Kaitlin loves the land as much as we do. We bought the first 40 acres of our land in 1976, when she was 7, and it was a great place to build a strong family bond. Down here she had the advantage of a top-notch school system, friends to play with, and an easy walk to downtown during the week. On weekends, holidays, etc. we worked on projects up on the land… growing fruit trees and gardens, and building water systems, sheds, and even a small tractor from a kit.
So what has been the main event the past 10 years? Being in the path of an intense wildfire in June 2011. Our land used to be covered in trees…
All except one of them on our 80 acres were turned to dead sticks. Here’s a picture Andy took of them going up in smoke as he was heading for home that day.
The next few years were an exercise in resilience as we dealt with insurance, cleared out the debris, rebuilt, and kept the roads open in the midst of flash floods and fallen trees. We’re clearly going to be facing more non-land-related challenges in the near future given our ages and the state of the world, but we’re enjoying what we have while we still have it. My motto is,
Stay curious and open to life. No matter what happens keep learning and growing. Find what you love and find a way to share it with others.
So far that has worked fine. Fingers crossed for the future.
What have your past ten years been like?
September 30, 2020
how lovely to have kept in touch! and to write such warm and courageous words in a rather uncomfortable time of upheaval for us all.
I have heard your motto for life many times from you. and it’s a good one. :)xo
Thank you. Some of the group still live in California, so l thought it would be relevant to them.
Ten years ago we were living in a motorhome touring this great country. Now we live in an apartment in a complex providing assistance to seniors where I rarely leave the apartment. Life changes and so do we. But it is all good.
Yes, it’s all good. And we can be thankful we traveled when we did. 🙂
Oh my, you live in such a beautiful place! What an awful shame about the fire. But so thankful it didn’t burn your home! Yes, Phil & I are trying to stay as healthy as possible, as it would not be good to be in the hospital during Covid. The hospitals here will not let anyone come in or stay with the patient!
Actually the hospital in Albuquerque that Andy went to two years ago does let one family member visit. I was surprised and pleased… I checked when Andy was having those strange symptoms a few months ago.
How nice that you keep in touch. I enjoyed reading your letter.
Thanks. 🙂
That’s amazing you all have kept in touch for so many decades. Your ten year letter was amazing, knowing all you’ve gone through but was able to maintain a sunny outlook afterward.
I taught classes and led groups in stress management, emotional aikido, etc. for about ten years after I retired in 1993. I did it partly (mainly?) because I had to practice what I preached.
My last decade pales in comparison. Then again, I’m an eternal optimist, so who knows? My son also turned 7 y/o in 1976 ….. time is a thief!
Your motto is not only cool, but an inspiration. It’s been a long, long time.
Yes, 1976 was a LONG time ago!
I like your motto. It’s absolutely spot-on. As you say, Andy’s doing pretty well at 85, and yes, keep on living your lives to the fullest while you can still do so.
How tragic that the wildfire destroyed so many beautiful trees. Are they growing back again?
The aspen and bushes are coming back, but not the conifers unless we plant them. Andy is working hard to keep the vegetation down for 100 feet around the shed, greenhouse, and house for fire protection.
My two sons were 11 and 9 in 1976, that was the year our lives began to change. we lived in Savannah and there were riots amid the beginning of desegregating the schools, also that was the year, Kmart came to town, and Georgia changed the blue laws that meant every thing was closed on Sundays so Kmart could be open from 12 to 1, then Sears where i worked jumped on the train, and from that day forward the world changed for the good and the bad. I made it through all of that and the last 10 years have been pretty close to perfect with of course a few thing thrown into the cogs by Murphy Visits. i think it is amazing you still keep in contact with your friends. I am in daily contact through the computer with my friend that I first met in 1959, in the 9th grade. and another friend from when my kids were babies.
That’s neat. 🙂
got carried away into the past. forgot to say, your land is so beautiful now and was before the fire. that had to be devastating. the beauty now is just a different beauty. what a blessing you still have it and the ability to visit it. i am sure your daughter will continue to love it as she ages
I agree it’s still beautiful, but completely different. She and Torben drive with the pups so the pups can enjoy the land too. We’ll have to see if that changes now that they’re in Massachusetts instead of Illinois.
10 years ago we were in our 70’s and feeling that we were old. Now we’re both octogenarians and feeling the aches and pains of truly old age. With the pandemic we don’t go much of anywhere any more but with books from the local library and television programs aplenty we keep ourselves going. I’m spending more time than ever in the kitchen, mainly baking. Just finished a plum clafoutis and yesterday a double chocolate banana bread. Both much too rich for us but at our age I figure we can eat what we like. Like pie for breakfast!! :^D
Yes, after a certain age we get to choose. Life is too precious not to enjoy it.
1976 and I had returned to NZ from being gone about not quite a decade, I was in my 20s and had lost both parents by then. We (imported husband/not NZer) had thought to stay one year and then return to Aussie. We are both still here but we are no longer together!
9 years ago I got my BA which I wrote about recently – but I had started it like 12 years ago – part time, a couple of fails and a whole lot of gains. Since then I’ve had to let that go and I’ve travelled the “artists highway”
I imagine you are happy you got the B A but are also happy to be going your own way now? I think both are neat.
I love that you keep in touch with your friends after all these years. Do you do the letter via email or email mail?
I so hate that the wildfire paid a visit to your place…I have never been close to a wildfire but how I hate them.
They preferred it as a Word file so they can combine all the contributions together. I don’t have Word, I use Pages on the Mac, so I sent the text as an email, saying where the pictures went and sent the pictures as an attachment. It will be interesting to see what the result is. Once they’re all combined they’ll probably send it as a big PDF file.