I was incredulous. She didn't look a day over seventy. I told her so, but she acted as if people were telling her that since she was seventy-one. She told me she has macular degeneration beginning to rob her eyesight so had to quit driving last year.
"I spoke to a class last year at Boston University Medical School," she said. "I was a guest lecturer. When it came time for questions, all the students, every one of them, thanked me for coming down there to speak. And they all wanted to know the secret of my longevity. Whether is was genetic or not."
"I told them it wasn't. My father died in his fifties, and my mother a few years later. My brother died young, too. I told them the secret to a long life is to be active. And have a positive attitude. I always see the glass half-full, instead of half-empty."
I thought about Shirley often. Is it possible to extend one's life on this planet simply by getting off our butts and smiling a lot?
According to a recent study on longevity called the Longevity Project, researchers Friedman and Martin discovered there are multiple reasons why some people live longer than others. And it is not about genetics. Factors such as personality, ways of approaching and dealing with life, and how physically active a person is all contribute to living longer. My friend Shirley had nailed it, and she was living proof.
What Shirley taught me, and what science is finding out, when life hands you lemons you can either get all sour about it, or you can get to work making a fabulous lemon-meringue pie.
You can peel them open, harvest the seeds and start planting a whole field of lemon trees to sell to Bird's Eye, or walk around with a puckered face.
You can throw a few slices in your iced tea, or leave them in the fridge to wither and rot.
Thing is, life isn't always going to be handing you fruit. Next time it could be something brown and smelly in a paper bag. Better make lemonade while you can.
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