A longtime friend of mine died last week. She was three months short of her 98th birthday, and had never been in the hospital until this final illness which began about a month before. She had few illnesses throughout her life and, other than vitamins, took no regular medications. Her only disability in the last five years of her life was blindness secondary to macular degeneration. And even this didn’t impact her daily activities that much.

Her good health continuing into a ripe old age is indeed remarkable. But there was something else about her that was even more remarkable – her attitude and her beliefs, and how she maintained and practiced these every day of her life. That last line would seem to be an opening to discuss her faith or religion or spirituality, and although she did in fact have a very strong faith, that’s not where I’m going with this.

 

What was truly remarkable about this lady was that she set daily goals for herself – not necessarily huge lifetime goals either – and actually carried them out on a day by day basis.  She strongly believed that she must accomplish something every single day; and she did. Whether she began a new drawing (she was an artist), or learned a new song (she was a musician), or went through old magazines and cut out photos that she liked for a scrapbook, she always accomplished something new each day. When she became blind, she immediately started getting books on tape; her first project was to listen to the Old Testament of the Bible from start to finish. When she had done that TWICE, she then began to learn French and practiced every single day. And, when she was 89, she wrote her memoirs.

 

These small accomplishments did not stop her from her activities of daily living. She got up every morning, got dressed – complete with pearls and stockings –

straightened her apartment, spoke on the phone to her sister, and went about her regular activities in addition to doing something new. We once were talking about the new year, and she could not understand why people made resolutions.  If they would just get up in the morning and do what they needed to – without fighting it, without thinking too much about it – then there would be no need for resolutions, she told me.

 

I will miss her. But, her friendship has left me with many gifts, one of which is that I will no longer make New Year’s resolutions. I will simply do as she told me.