the surprising interests of the older generation

My office is near to Syracuse, New York.  Syracuse University athletics are followed by a variety of people.  One of our secretaries is a season ticket holder for football & basketball.  The other day, SU lost (badly) to UCONN.  That morning I heard the recap on the local public radio station.  I listen to NPR in the morning while getting ready for the day.  The basketball team was a dismal 17ish % from 3-point range.  UConn was (obviously) better.  I don't follow SU sports per se, but this is something that makes the news and is almost unavoidable.

That afternoon, one of our last patients was a very wonderful 80-something lady who has been a patient of my doc for several years.  I've known her as a patient for 8 years.  Her husband is now in a nursing home, and she's still staying strong.  Had a fracture of her pelvis (I think it was pelvis) and apparently gave the staff at the rehab facility hell because she was not one to be limited by her condition.

As we were chatting, I opened the door to the waiting room.  Nobody was there.  I asked her if she still drives.  She told me yes, she does.  It's one of the easier things for her to do.  As she's now getting around with a wheeled walker with a padded seat, I asked her if she needed help getting out to her car.  The only thing she wanted any help with was getting the walker into the trunk of her car.

As she was getting her coat on, she saw me tidying up the waiting room, collecting the sections of newspaper.  The SU/UConn game was front page of the sports section.  She saw that, and said "they lost that game.  I could have shot better threes than they did".  Amazing on many levels.  And an excellent reminder that an older age doesn't equal a retreat from life's enjoyments.

And, she also has her own Facebook page.  True story.