Re: [Paddlewise] Older Paddlers

Natalie's post brought back a (non-paddling) memory.

When I was in college and escorted rail tours of "the Scenic West" that were 
still popular, I was able to weekend-over between tours once at a small, 
rustic lodge at Lake Agnes in the Canadian Rockies, located up behind the 
heavily toured Lake Louise, not far from Banff.  My assigned table-mate for 
the weekend was a little old lady from Winnepeg, who asked me if I'd like to 
join her on a birding expedition the following morning.  It seemed 
appropriate, considering the size of the lodge --- just 30 guests at any one 
time --- that I accept this extraordinarily sharp, active and entertaining 
90-something year older, there on her own, and even more appropriate when I 
realized that she needed a cane to accomodate a minor limp.  

The following morning after conversations of world events over breakfast --- 
where she quickly left me in the dust with her memory of detail and awareness 
and concern for events of the ongoing war in Vietnam --- we set out to go 
birding.  Again, this time literally, she left me in the dust on several 
trails, hiking up to a site where she thought we'd see the widest array of 
interesting bird species.  Eventually, she mentioned her "bum leg", hoping 
--- I'm sure to be nice to me --- that she hadn't slowed me down too much.  I 
was honest in my reply, and asked her how long she'd had "her problem" with 
the leg.  She responded that things had never been exactly right in the 25 
years since she'd lost everything from just above her right knee in a bad 
skiing accident.  Then, and for more than 35 years, I've wondered about a 
suitable response to that statement.

It isn't age --- it's attitude.

Jack Martin

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