Our family just got back from seeing Grandma Irene in the Pittsburgh area. We had a great trip, and she got to spend time with her granson “Johnnie.”
Gramma Irene is amazing. She is turning 79 this month, and is as sharp as a tack. She’s in great health too, so we can be thankful for that! I think the reason that she is doing so well is that she stays very active. As you can see, she has a garden that she tends to (we made a wonderful organic salad that evening from the greens picked in the picture below). She also does yoga several times a week, and walks almost every day.
She also eats incredibly well, and keeps up on all of the latest health information regarding diet and nutrition.
I think Gramma Irene is the exception in this area, unfortunately. From what we could see, there was a lot of unhealthy choices for eating in the Pittsburgh area. It was really hard to find “healthy” food at any of the restaurants we visited. There weren’t many people out exercising either. These weren’t just my observations – we all took note. Maybe we noticed since my family is from Colorado (voted this month in a major publication as being the “leanest” state.
Pittsburgh has a high percentage of seniors as compared to the national average. Currently, over 15% of the population of Pittsburgh are seniors, as opposed to the 12% for the rest of the country. For this reason, we made a dedicated page to Pittsburgh Assisted Living on our site today.
We hope to see Gramma Irene again this holiday season. She usually comes out to see us at that time, and stays for the week!
Gramma Irene’s House in Pittsburgh
I mean no disrespect to “grandma Irene” –but in my opinion, she’s not very amazing or the exception of seniors; she’s still very young and of course she’s living life.
I have two grandmothers in their 90s and when they were in their late 70’s, both could make you dizzy with all of their activities. For examply grandma Norma baked chocolate chip cookies every week. In addition, she regularly made a pan of both sticky and frosted buns. She also had a garden, made regular meals and was very active in her church, the Senior Center and made regular trips to visit her grandchildren 85 miles a way.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think you’re giving Seniors enough credit. They lived through the Depression, world wars and in my grandmother Norma’s case, had an outdoor bathroom until my mom (in their mid-60s) was 7-8 years-old. Of course they’re going to continue to “live” life for as long as they’re able. Why wouldn’t they?
Now I work in the marketing dept. at a retirement community in Omaha, Neb. (www.Immanuelseniorliving.com). I see the same can-do spirit with these people as well. Many worked hard during their life and as they’ve grown older, that spririt of work and of living life to the fullest continues to show in their old age. I think instead of seeing it as “amazing” or “exceptional” we should be emulating their behavior through regular exercise, healthy meals at home and enjoying the small things in life. How else will we be able to live to a ripe old age?
Hi Lora,
Great comment. Thank you. I guess what I was trying to say is that, especially in her area, we saw so many people in their “early senior years” – late 50’s and early 60’s who were in pretty bad shape and very unhealthy. Irene seemed to stand out. I think there are most certainly seniors in their 90’s that could probably run a marathon if they wanted to.
No matter what age you are, I think that eating healthy, living well, being social, etc can add to your years and vitality.
David