In the Know - A New Feature!

Here’s your monthly roundup of fun and helpful tips and news about and for seniors. (If there are other topics you’d like me to cover here, let me know!)

Medicare Turns 50 in Good Health

From NPR: “Here’s a bit of good news for Medicare, the popular government program that's turning 50 this week. Older Americans on Medicare are spending less time in the hospital; they're living longer; and the cost of a typical hospital stay has actually come down over the past 15 years.” Click here to read or listen to the story.

Trash Your Muumuus and Get Some Jeans!

Great advice on how to look fashionable after 60 (even on a budget) with tips taken from the likes of Diane Sawyer and Susan Sarandon. Learn why you should wear lots of color, how to experiment with prints and textures… and see Helen Mirren rocking a bikini at 65. http://www.thebudgetfashionista.com/fashion-advice-older-women/

Preschoolers and the Elderly in Present Perfect

I was just thrilled to learn about this preschool located entirely inside a retirement home. The two groups at the opposite of ends of life meet to do activities, read, share stories, color, paint, sing songs and lots of other fun things. What a wonderful way to use the valuable resource of elders within a community. A documentary is forthcoming. I was deeply touched. Click here to find out more.

10 Things I Learned From Barbie

If you’re like me, you played with Barbie dolls. I loved Barbie but I was surprised at just how much I learned from my time with her. For instance, sometimes we get our hair all cut off or have ball point tattoos appear on our thighs -- life is capricious. Constantly standing on our tiptoes and wearing blue eye shadow are not always a great idea. For more funny and entertaining things we can learn from Barbie, click here.

The Surprising Benefits of Volunteering

Want to get out more, make more connections, do some good and feel great in the process? Here are four reasons you might want to consider volunteering and enjoy its “Happiness Effect.” http://www.helpguide.org/articles/work-career/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm

A Few Notable Birthdays

Dalai Lama - 89 on July 6
Martha Reeves of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - 74 on July 18
Tony Bennett - 89 on August 3
Wendell Berry - 81 on August 5

OK, that’s it for now. Like I said, if there’s something you want me to look into, let me know. I’d love your thoughts and opinions.

Contact Antonia at antoniasseniormoments@hotmail.com or
  Antonia's Senior Moments on Facebook

Coincidences – Gifts from the Universe? Or Random Events?

It was one of those ordinary, totally forgettable days.

Sal was at a print shop trying to pick up an order. It wasn’t ready yet. So he thought, “What the heck, I’ll just go grab a coffee at the cafe across the street.”

Sal’s life was about to change forever. 

He jogged across the street and stooped down to pet an adorable fluffball puppy that was tied up outside the cafe.

Just then, an attractive blonde woman dressed in a business suit, juggling a large purple backpack and a heavy briefcase, buzzed around the corner and nearly tripped over Sal. The two of them laughed and, after playing with the puppy for a moment, went inside, found a table in a quiet corner, and instantly bonded over coffee.

Today Sal and Megan are living together and plan to marry.

Everything changed in a moment… because his printing order wasn’t ready on time and a puppy was his path. How does that work?

Was it a Coincidence? Luck? Serendipity? Fate? Or something else?

I’m sure you have some stories like this. They happen all the time. You run into that person you were meaning to call today. Or you pick out the same anniversary card for your spouse they picked out for you.

When things like this happen, do you trivialize them as “coincidences” and say “I got lucky,” or “It came out of the blue?” Or do you wonder if something else might be going on?

If you’re like me, you believe that everything that happens, happens for a reason.

As Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of Peace, Love and Healing, so beautifully says it, coincidences are "God's way of remaining anonymous.”

My spiritual faith leads me to believe everything exists in the universe because of my thoughts and actions. So, when something happens I can’t explain, I can’t just shrug my shoulders and leave it at that. I have to stay open to greater meaning.

Look around at the house you are living in, the job where you work and your partner and children, if you have them. Do you really think all these treasures in your life came to you coincidentally?

It’s harder to think we might have some connection with bad things that happen.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer years ago, I saw nothing good in it. It was a horrible experience. Yet, only a year later, I looked back on this trying time and saw I’d received an amazing gift.

I discovered what is really important in my life.

The importance of friends and family became crystal clear. I couldn’t have gotten that valuable perspective without having had the trauma of a life-threatening illness. Coincidence? I thought not, but you decide.

Look at what happens in your life.

The next time you run into a person, out of the blue, you’ve been thinking about, stop and pay attention to the circumstances of this happening, or coincidence. Is it possible the energy you used to think about this person had them appear in your life at that exact moment?

Whether you believe what happens as completely circumstantial or definitely created by your energy, be sure to be grateful and acknowledge all the coincidences that have made your current life what it is. Our life expands because of them.

What are your beliefs about the coincidences in your life?

Contact Antonia at antoniasseniormoments@hotmail.com or
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The Most Inspiring 88-Year-Old I've Ever Met

Monique Purkett

Do you sometimes worry about getting older?

Meet Monique Purkett, still active, engaged and contributing to the world at 88.  When I sat down to interview her recently, I had no idea all she had been through and all that she contributed to the world. She is a role model for all of us in our later years and truly someone to admire. The story of Monique’s life could be a movie. In fact, it would be three movies!

A magical wartime love story

“Young 17-year-old French girl meets and falls in love with American soldier during the German occupation of France.” Doesn’t this sound like something right off the pages of a screenplay of a war love story from the 1940’s?

She was the oldest of three with a sister six years her junior and a brother 12 years younger. When the war ended French families invited American soldiers into their homes. At 17 Monique felt awkward doing so, but her 11-year-old sister felt no discomfort and found and invited Sam, the man who would eventually become Monique’s husband. She and Sam wed when she was 18 and he was 20.

Living abroad, then coming to America

After the war Monique and her husband remained in Europe for several years. They had two sons and a daughter. Sam worked at the military’s exchange system in Germany, Morocco and Spain.  It wasn’t until 1958 that Monique made her first trip to America, and the whole family came to live in the U.S. permanently in 1964. Monique worked hard and made sacrifices to assimilate into the American culture. She did this gladly.

Sam joined the V.A. Administration and his job took him to several locations throughout California including Santa Monica, Fresno, Pleasant Hill, and San Francisco. Monique taught pre-school for 25 years and she describes this time as some of the most enjoyable of her life. Sam and Monique eventually retired in Santa Rosa and their children live in Oakland, Placerville and nearby Petaluma.

An active life of family and service after widowhood

After 56 years of marriage, Sam passed away in 2002. Monique’s family in France encouraged her to return home. She resisted; “America is my home. My life is here with my children!“ she told me with quiet determination.

After Sam’s passing Monique got involved in her community to keep busy and to continue her ways of doing for others. She currently volunteers 15 hours a week at a local hospital and has set a goal to reach 8,500 hours of service before the end of 2015! She is an avid gardener and loves needlepoint, sewing and cooking. Her children are her best support and she maintains an exceptionally close relationship with all three.

Her beautiful character shines bright

Petite, gentle, with a welcoming demeanor and yet Monique can be described as determined and strong. Self-effacing yet self-assured. That’s how I viewed Monique after spending some time learning a smidgen of her life’s history.

Look at her picture again. Look into her eyes. Do you see all that she is? Do you see a life of challenges as well as sweetness? Do you see the strength of her life choices? Monique readily shared, “the care and support of all the people surrounding me is part of what I am today.”

We can learn a lot from Monique. I did. I learned you can be strong yet soft, lead a challenging life yet show no signs of it externally and give to others while taking care of yourself.

Thank you Monique, not only for who you are, but for what you bring to those of us who appreciate knowing your story. You are an excellent role model for those of us who are making the most of our elder years.

Contact Antonia at antoniasseniormoments@hotmail.com or

  Antonia's Senior Moments on Facebook