I was looking for a picture among my photos and happened upon this one, so out of curiosity I followed the instructions and grabbed the nearest book. On page 81 of the book I'd just finished reading
(reviewed below), I found "back to school." How well do you know me? Would this make a good title for a musical about my life, or what? LOL.
When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple ~ edited by Sandra Haldeman Martz, 1987, women's studies, 9/10
This collection of writings and photographs challenges stereotypes of older women in America.
I like several poems in this book. Here are a few snippets:
I now mother my mother
when I can no longer
mother my daughter
who is older than I
have ever felt myself to be.
That's from "Like Mother, Like Daughter" by Susan S. Jacobson (p. 21). The next one is the last of ten poems under the umbrella title "A Place for Mother" by Joanne Seltzer (p. 65), about what to do with your aging mother as she becomes forgetful and incontinent. And then your own hair turns white, your skin is parchment, and you have "bulldog's jowls."
Not wanting to be a burden
on your children
you sign yourself into
a nursing home.
You become active
in every group
and serve on every committee.
You are voted
resident-of-the-month,
a role model.
Mother would be proud of you.
That makes me think of the retirement center where I now live. After you read this snippet, be sure to re-read its title: "Maybe at Eighty?" by S. Minanel (p. 123).
They say wisdom comes as you age
Now I'm in a real jam
at sixty I should be a sage
look what a fool I am!
Yeah, maybe at 80 I'll be a sage. The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. I'm still learning, like a student still in school. The school of hard knocks.
