JACK - Regardless of one’s age, physical capabilities, or circumstances, life can be full of light community and movement.

This is Jack.

I met Jack at the Senior Center where I worked. I was headed out on a Friday - no-one ever came in on a Friday afternoon. As I was sitting watching the clock, he saunters in, sit down, and had me at “hello” in his Welsh accent. He explains that his doctor told him to find something to do. He was a widow, he was lonely. It was the year I was getting married and he said how happy he was for me; that being married was the greatest joy of his life. He spoke of his wife, their time together, and how much he missed her. I was in tears pretty quickly based on the tenderness with which he told the story of his life.

It was at that moment I realized how much I love older people and how important I think their stories are. And I soon realized I had a crush on an 80 year old Welsh man who was charming, and funny, and had tears in his eyes almost always!

I worry that people don’t and won’t see the beauty, the humor, the history, the scars, and the brilliance of a mature person. What I want is for people to open their eyes and see what is possible. Regardless of one’s age, physical capabilities, or circumstances, life can be full of light community and movement.

This is for you Jack. You taught me to love and laugh and not give a rats’s ass what people think.