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Successful Aging: A symphony of riches to be grateful for

This week, I’m sharing some things that made me feel grateful.

After the Pasadena Symphony, the first one I’ve attended since the Covid shutdown, I observed the joy of the woman in the next row. Although I only saw her expressive profile, a half smile that projected a deep resonance with a Tchaikovsky classic that enveloped Ambassador Auditorium like the richness of silk.

Her whole body smiled into the music as she leaned forward, blonde hair bobbing, to take a photo.

Someone she loved must have been performing. Was she a proud mom. She dabbed at her eyes a few times, happy tears. Next to her sat a young girl, about 8, who had to have been her daughter judging by the way she and the woman moved in concert with the music.

When my friend and I returned home from the symphony, my friend asked me the meaning of the sign posted on one of my windows that faces the street. A neighbor who heads our disaster preparedness drills had handed it out. ”OKAY” it announced in bold letters. “We are safe and prepared.”

Although our block’s earthquake drill had happened the week before, I left the sign up because I love the whole idea it represents: A curtain of safety in the least safe of times. In an actual disaster, the absence of the sign would scream HELP to neighbors I know would help if they were able.

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Senior Moments: Wily coyotes return for mating season in my yard

Following the last earthquake, a neighbor was at my front door barely after the ground stopped shaking. I was still shaking, holding tight to my newly adopted rescue cat.

Lark kitty is the “Cheers” of our neighborhood. Everyone knows her name. If she could talk, I think she would say that she knows their names also. By the verve in their waves, the stride in their walk, the lilt in their voices. Perched on the window seat with her nose pressed against the glass, she’s been known to lift her tuxedo paw in a return wave.

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