Letters from North
America
I’m
amazed at the attitudes
of some of the people in
my life. You meet people
who are, say in their
70’s or 80’s and they
think and act like they
were in their 40’s or
50’s. Then again you
meet people in their
40’s and 50’s who
consider themselves old
and worn out. I have a
couple of friends, one
is 85 and the other is
90 that can run circles
around most of us.
I believe it all has to
do with attitude. The
ones who are still going
at life with zest have a
good, positive attitude
in spite of all of their
troubles over their
years. On the other hand
the ones who are ready
to throw in the towel,
no matter what age are
mainly negative
thinkers. All of us have
troubles, I don’t wish
to downplay that point,
but it does seem as if
some folks are just able
to handle life and our
struggles better than
others.
I was at a function this
past weekend and an old
friend of mine and his
wife got to talking
about attitudes. I told
them the story about a
lady I spoke with a
couple of months ago.
Her name is Florene
Miller Watson. She was
born in 1920, so that
makes her almost 90. I
had been looking through
of my Dad’s WWII service
records and noticed that
he had been working for
a jewelry store named
Millers Jewelry in
Odessa, Texas in 1941.I
looked up the store on
the internet and found
that Mrs. Florene Miller
Watson was something of
celebrity and a lot had
been written about her
and her flying skills:
(http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons/florene.htm)
This lead me to think
that perhaps she knew my
Dad and might be able to
tell me something new
about him. I knew that
he had enlisted in the
Army Air Corp. before
the war broke out and
was curious to see if I
could find out anything
else about him. Maybe
her father had
influenced my Dad to
sign up before the war
started.
In doing some additional
research I found an
article recently written
by a north Texas
newspaper about Mrs.
Watson. I contacted the
reporter and obtained
Mrs. Watson’s phone
number. I called her and
left a message on her
recorder and then dialed
again an hour or so
later. Florene answered
the phone and advised
that she and her husband
had been running some
errands. I told her
about my Dad and she
said that she didn’t
remember him but that
her sister might. She
added that she didn’t go
in her father’s store
very often since she
always wore pants and
her father didn’t like
her to do so.
I asked her for her
address and told her I
would send her a
photograph of my Dad to
see if she might
recognize him. She asked
if I meant to send it by
the post office. I told
her yes I did and she
asked if I didn’t have a
scanner. I told her of
course I did and she
said…. “Well, just scan
it and e-mail it…and
I’ll get it to my sister
and we’ll see if we
remember him…”
You could have knocked
me over with a
feather…..I don’t think
I’ve ever e-mailed
anyone nearly 90 years
old. I asked her if she
still flew airplanes and
she told me that she did
once someone else had
gotten them up in the
air and could land them
for her.
I did as she asked and
received several e-mails
from her as well as her
sister.
This just goes to prove
my point that you are
only as old as you feel.
Here is a woman who is
bright as a penny and
talked to me for nearly
thirty minutes and is
keeping up with today’s
news and technology. On
the other hand I’ve got
friends and venture that
you do as well, who gave
up on progress years ago
and keep living in the
past rather than looking
towards the future.
This life of ours is
short enough as it is,
but in my opinion we
need to think of it as
an adventure and a
journey not a
destination. There are
no sure things in life,
there are going to be
things that break your
heart, but we need to
move on and keep looking
for the better days in
the future, not in the
past.
I really like this
quotation….which is
said to have coined by
Mark Twain. If it was,
then he had the right
idea.
"Dance like no one is
watching. Sing like no
one is listening. Love
like you’ve never been
hurt and live like it’s
heaven on Earth."
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