April 10, 2009
An Afternoon With Two Gracious Ladies by JEAN ANKER
JEAN AND MAVIS
Had the good fortune to spend the afternoon with two gracious ladies Mavis and Eve. They are both octogenarians, which is s hell of a lot better than being octomom (sorry I couldn't pass that up). Anyway, each day we observe the sunrise or merely stumble out of our bed roll and slog our beverage of choice we are on an unavoidable path, like it or not we are growing older each day. Not a damn thing to do with that one.
That reality hits harder each passing year and I for one have reached an age where I no longer lump everybody over 40 into one gelatinous mess. Sorry, but that is what I used to do. Now I find that there are nuisances associated with aging: Seventy year olds are different from eighty year olds and eighty is tough even for the toughest of us. To spend time with 2 feisty, interesting eighty year olds is like meeting someone on a mountain trail who promises you that there a waterfall up ahead.
I have already described Mavis, who never beats around the bush. Eve is also very direct, which I admire. So anyhow Mavis, Greg and I were having interesting conversations about health and life and rocks when Eve arrived a little later. Eve is an actress who had just been working in New Orleans, but things hadn't gone so well. Mavis took the position that it was probably best in the long run for Eve's health that she didn't end up having to work 20 hours a day for a slave driving director even though it might have been a real coup for her professionally. Then Mavis asked Eve whether she believed in free will or pre-destination? Eve thought it was a little of both. So that is where I would like to end this session. Are our lives predestined or do we have free will and therefore create our own destiny?