It’s hard to imagine there are young people who get depressed about turning thirty. They must feel they have experienced all of life’s gifts and all that’s left is an unpleasant gradual downhill slide! But for me turning thirty wasn’t a big deal (now fifty was a different story – when my knees started dating Dr. John Scwartz and I realized my body wasn’t going to last forever). But it was an unexpected slap across the face when I was asked how old my son was and realized he will be turning thirty in the not too distant future! And like a child yanking on his daddy’s shirtsleeve, I cried “How did that happen? But after being reassured by several friends at the Center who have – not just kids, but grandkids – turning thirty, I guess even this life’s benchmark is no big deal either.
But as we get older and wiser or a little slower and a lot crazier, it is helpful and comforting to share thoughts and experiences about the reality of getting older; and how to personally grow while making the most of the years ahead.
To that end Lucille Torgerson is once again starting her “Let’s Talk” series on this coming Friday April 22nd from 10:30 – 12:00 and continuing for four Fridays. To initiate the discussions, Lucille will reference three books (which you don’t have to read, although you may want to later): “From Age-ing to Sage-ing” by Zalman Schachter- Shalomi, “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life” by Karen Armstrong and “The Gifts of Years” by Joan Chittister. “Let’s Talk” is open to anyone and everyone, men and women, introverts and extraverts and will offer a chance to share stories and experiences, joys and frustrations as we embrace this journey of living gracefully during the next chapter of our lives.
A quick plug for Habitat for Humanity’s Annual Pizza Feed at Spookys this Wednesday from 5 PM – 8 PM. Tickets for adults are $11, kids (7-12) $6, kids (6 & under) $3. The menu includes pizza, pasta and salad (drinks sold separately). And if you want to do yourself and The Dalles community some good, Habitat is always looking for volunteers for the Restore Store and their building projects. For more information you can call 541-296-8817 or the Restore Store at 541-296-4486.
Tonight at the Center, Truman will be performing his “Country Gold”. And next Tuesday the Dufur Boys from Dufur will be back kicking it up for your listening and dancing enjoyment. And if you haven’t enjoyed the Tuesday Night music for a while, now is the time – the sun is staying up past 8:00 and the weather is at least warmer. The music starts at 7:00 and donations are appreciated to keep the music flowing like a creek on a warm spring day.
It is going to be May pretty soon – that I can guarantee – and we still have “Riverdance” tickets for the 1:00 Sunday matinee on May 29th at the Keller Auditorium in Portland. It is Memorial Day weekend so you will still have an extra day to recuperate from the high energy performance. The cost is only $70 for orchestral level seats and transportation. Call the Center at 541-296-4788 for more information.
The magazine full of technological gadgets and the latest in home and automotive innovations that I read as a child – and is still published – was Popular Mechanics. (And the winner of a free breakfast is Marilyn Sarsfield.) But I also received not one but two answers for Heathkits. You may remember these do-it-yourself kits which included all the parts you needed to assemble electronic gadgets from radios to computers.
But this week it is “P” for politics – and international intrigue. It was on May 1st, 1960 when a U-2 American spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union and the circumstances of the incident were initially denied by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This week’s “Remember When” question is who was the pilot of the spy plane? E-mail your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or write it on the back of an aerial photograph of ICBM sites in and around Sverdlovsk, Russia.
Well, it’s been another week watching the hills turn green. Until we meet again – there are three types of people in the world: those who see the glass half full, those who see it half empty and those want to know who stole their water.
“Sometimes when I get up in the morning, I feel very peculiar. I feel like I’ve just got to bite a cat! I feel like if I don’t bite a cat before sundown, I’ll go crazy! But then I just take a deep breath and forget about it. That’s what is known as real maturity.” Snoopy
