Why Nana Rocked!!!!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain

Everybody has their role models, heroes, idols....individuals who exemplify the type of person we aspire to me be in various areas of our lives. 

I am particularly blessed to have many people who have (and continue to) inspire me both as a person and as a health-fitness professional.  But ironically, the person who taught me the most about the power of living a healthy lifestyle was my husband's maternal grandmother, "Nana", who passed away late last year.

Nana was 93 when she passed away, but she wasn't like any 93 year old I ever knew. 

She lived alone in an apartment in Florida.  She insisted on staying in a building where she had to walk up several flight of stairs to get into her home.  She said she liked the exercise and the discipline and she thought it was important.

If you called Nana on the phone, she was always happy to hear from you but she really couldn't talk to you for too long -- because she had to be somewhere.  And she went -- everywhere. 

She swam, she went to dance class, she was in a play-reading group, she took walks everywhere, she did her own shopping, she played Mah Jong, she went to lectures....she was always running out the door to do something.  "Great to hear from you...gotta go...I'm off to dance class."

She was completely lucid, knew exactly what was going on in the world, had a great (and rather irreverent) sense of humor.  I never saw her in a bad mood or looking bored.  And she was always up for a good time.

Nana wasn't taking any major medications and she had never spent any time in hospitals -- except to have her children.  No heart disease, no high blood pressure, no heart attacks, no strokes, no diabetes -- and until a few months before she passed away...no cancer. 

She was into nutrition and exercise long before it was popular.  She ate well almost all the time, but she wasn't into deprivation. 

As a physiologist, I found her a fascinating case study.  I wanted to hear her opinions about EVERYTHING before she passed away.  Here are some of the things she told me.

• She was a big believer in the anti-oxidant properties of blueberries, she ate a ton of them every morning as part of her breakfast.
• She only ate whole grains, except for the occassional white flour roll at a restaurant.
• She ate lots of fish and chicken, but she liked a nice burger on occassion.
• She did at least one very active thing (and usually more than one) every single day.  Walking, swimming, line dancing.
• She was always positive and happy to be alive.
• She didn't dwell on sad things or past drama in her own life.
• She was an avid reader, despite the fact that she had very poor eyesight due to macular degeneration.
• She hardly ever watched TV.
• She had one drink a night.  Usually a glass of wine.  Sometimes some scotch on the rocks.  And she always had a handful or two of nuts with her drink.
• Her one big indulgence was ice cream, which she said she couldn't live without.  I think she had a little every day.
• She hung out with folks much younger than her (spry young chickens in their 70s) and never revealed her age to them.  It was just a number and she didn't give in any thought.

And as impressed as I was by this woman's life.  I was as impressed (if not more so) by her death.

She found out that she had cancer and it became soon became clear that she was going to have to go into a nursing home or hospice to live out the last few months of her life. 

When we went to see her in the nursing home, I was braced for the worst.  My 5-year old son was going to be there and I was concerned as to whether or not he would be upset seeing his greatgrandmother incompassitated, possibly incoherent. 

I imagined tubes, bags...the works. But I should have know...this was Nana.

When we got there she had gotten herself dressed, her hair was done and she had on a little make-up.  She made up her hospital bed -- and she was sitting on it feet dangling toward the floor, fully dressed. 

When we walked in she just wanted to talk about us, not about her, not about being sick, not about the nursing home.   She would politely answer your question and immediately change the subject.

Then my son playfully tossed his stuffed animal to her and she caught it in mid air -- cancer...nursing home...macular degeneration...and all. 

Now I am hypersensitive about good manners, so I was embarassed, and thought maybe she would interpret his behavior as rude or disrespectful.  I scolded him saying, "Logan, don't throw Georgie at Nana!  That's not nice manners."  But she said she didn't mind at all...and tossed it right back to him. 

Then for about the next 5 minutes, I watched in awe as Nana threw this toy back and forth with my son.  Mostly catching with one hand, sometimes two...never missing a single catch...even when Logan's toss was a little short, high or long.   And she was talking to him all the while...

She died very shortly after that.  Peacefully in her sleep.  And when my Mother-in-Law called and told me the sad news all I could think was --- BRAVO, can't do it much better than that...lot's to learn from that example. 

I was definitely taking notes.  Here they are...

• Eat well and keep moving no matter what
• Choose happiness, don't wallow in your own drama
• Never "act your age" -- and stay as far away as possible from folks who are acting theirs
• Involve yourself in lots of intellectual and creative pursuits
• Take pride in your appearance
• Have an active social life
• Laugh a lot
• Live while you're alive
• Let people know how much you love them
• Make a graceful exit

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