A Budding Centenarian Thinks about What’s Next

I’ve been working on where I fit.

This sounds like a sad thing, a hapless thing, like I suddenly got disinvited from the cool kids’ table at lunchtime. Nope. I’m still egotistical even to think I am the cool kid. (That’s a recent thing, don’t be thinking I’ve spent my whole life in that twinkly space.)

So where does the aging very cool kid go these days? Where does she take her accumulated wisdom and able-bodied self in order to have the most interesting and purposeful life?

Maybe you thought your question, “What have you been working on?” was going to generate a photo of half-knit mittens? Nope, I don’t have enough time left on earth to learn how to knit. I am not gifted in things having to do with coordinated efforts with my hands, except for typing, a skill that helped me make a living but doesn’t transfer to any other venue, like piano playing. You’d think, right? Muscle memory, why wouldn’t that transfer – keyboard to piano keys?

So, where do I fit? If a younger person asked me that question, I’d say go where the flame is irresistible. I’d explain that but do I need to?

Right now, for me, in this last quarter of my century on earth (yes, I have that as a goal), the irresistible flame is working on the resistance to the authoritarian takeover of American democracy. That means showing up, pitching in, organizing, being organized, writing, speaking, and living a life that is forward-thinking, purposeful, and optimistic.

I think of all this more as an organizing principle than a strategic plan. The plan will unfold. Anyway, that’s what I’m working on right now – where I fit in this scary, high stakes bit of history we are experiencing right now. But, for sure, I have a place. Everyone does. There’s no sitting this one out.

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash