Fw:

My friend sent me one of those positive, uplifting, reinforcing, cute, sappy forwards about how wonderful it is to grow old. I would usually just read, smile and delete. BUT today I am still recuperating from Saturday. Saturday I found myself at a nursing career fair competing with people much young than I. I would go as far as to say I was the oldest person in the room. I was waiting in a long line, watching other people as they interviewed. It was open; I could see what was happening. There were a lot of these open interviews going on in a very crowded conference room. So I watched and saw the interviewers laughing and chatting with the candidates, taking their time. The interviewers were doing most of the talking. I couldn't hear much, but it looked like they were recruiting, trying to sell their hospital, their department. When my turn finally came, I got the cold treatment. No positive chatter, no encouragement. I did not match the profile they were looking for and it was ever so obvious. It probably would have been a good idea to do more than one interview - there were 13 or 14 possibilities - but I was out of time as well as extremely discouraged. So no, I did not find the forward amusing and I will not send it on to seven friends. Today I don't feel so great about growing old.

They Froze to Death

My 5th great grandparents died on March 5, 1813 in Trenton, Maine. Back in the summer of 1969, I discovered their common tombstone in an overgrown cemetery. On it was engraved, “They froze to death returning from a visit”. He was 69; she was 72. I had a great time that summer doing research on my family, tracking tidbits of information and discovering forgotten graveyards. They can be a great source of information.

I love cemeteries. I visit my son’s grave here in Dallas and find it peaceful just to be there. When he died, my mom planted a rhododendron at our camp in NH in his memory. That was over 17 years ago. It is still there and very beautiful.

My dad was cremated, and his ashes were buried in the family plot in Carlisle, Massachusetts. I have ancestors in that cemetery going back to the 1700’s and I love to visit when I am in the area. I think there are 5 or 6 sets of grandparents of various degrees of greatness there as well as numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. Bill’s parents were cremated and are interred in the wall of a chapel in an Episcopal church. I would rather visit a graveyard.