My CommonPlace

A few years before he died in 1848, John Qunicy Adams said: “Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.” Sounds like what everyone is saying about preventing Alzheimer’s these days.

Jenny Allen, who had been a magazine writer for 30 years, decided she’d like to try writing stories, but she was afraid to take the risk. She says, “I was terrified to take a chance like this…. I don’t know what I was thinking. Did I think I was going to get in trouble?” Then she decided to go ahead and write a story called “The Long Chalkboard” — and then two more. She says of her decision, “It may be an age thing: I mean, with only so many more years left in my life, how much do I really have to lose?” Her stories have been published as The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories. They are illustrated by her husband, Jules Feiffer….

Here’s an interesting question posed by “Satchel” Page: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” I guess I’d have to say, it depends on how I feel that day. My range is late 20s to late 80s. I hardly ever feel the age I know I am….

Fred Taylor’s obituary quoted someone named Frederic Ameil who said, “To grow old is the Master Work of wisdom and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.” Something for me to think about ….