The Song and Dance of Life

Psalm 128:6, "and may you live to see your children's children."

Sometimes life is tough. Other times life is just bearable. Sometimes, life is very good and takes your breath away. Just keep dancing to life songs along the way.

I met someone recently who took my breath away. She is turning 100 years old on September 17 and she told me, "Life can be very good even when it's very hard and you just have to keep dancing along. The music of life continues to play."

The hardest part of living is saying goodbye. She told me that it is difficult to say goodbye to family and friends and in fact, it is especially difficult when you are 100 years old and just about all of your peers have left your midst already. But, she told me, "funerals are family gatherings and we have many great-greats now. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren are blooming everywhere - like a garden. Seeds from our family. It's a beautiful family."

I watched her smile and I realized that this ability to see the best in the very worst of circumstances has added years to her life. That and a very strong sense of humor.

She leans forward and whispers to me, "Let me tell you something - but don't print this in the newspaper." I feel like I'm about to be the keeper of a deep, dark secret and I mumble, "Okay, tell me," as I put down my pen.

"When I was young and learning to drive, my husband took me out in the Hudson. It was 1928 and I did pretty good driving it around with him. I even learned to park that big car, you know, parallel parking. My husband was tough on me driving that car though - he loved that car and he waxed it and shined her up all of the time. Anyway, I kept driving it when he didn't know it and even when I didn't have him in the car or even have my license. One day, he says to me, 'Theresa, did you drive the car again? I said, 'Yes, but only on the back roads.' I knew he was mad at me but he just said, 'Maybe it's time to get your driver's license now.' It had been two years of me driving around without my license, so he takes me down to take the test and you know what?"

I'm laughing at this point and I manage to mumble, "What happened?"

"He climbed into the back seat of the car to go along on my driver's test! I turned around and told him, 'Get out! Get out of the car! You cannot go with me!' and my husband starts yelling, 'You are not going alone with this man!' and the instructor was so scared of him that he said, 'He can come, it's okay, let's go."

She laughs and tells me, "I passed the test that day - I am not sure that I passed the test but I know that man didn't want to see us again!"

We're laughing together now and I'm watching her eyes light up at the memory and then she sobers and shares, "My Vinny died in 1984, I miss him. We danced together all the time. Our favorite song was by Jerry Vale, "Girl of my Dreams." You can listen to Jerry sing their song here.

Her 100 years of wisdom shined through when she told me, "Life is a song and dance even when it is too short. The music, the song, keeps playing long after you leave the dance floor."

Sources:

My interview with Theresa Turning 100 for The Sentinel Newspaper

http://www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576528841080315246.html