Eva Fry recently marked her 80th birthday with a grand celebration and she did it with a big smile on her beautiful face and many plans for the future. I managed to get her to sit still for an hour and visit with me about her full life. She’s physically active, keeps herself mentally stimulated and is grateful for her many talents. She’s a singer, a song writer, a champion walker, an author, a pageant winner, a comedienne, a motivational speaker, a dedicated swimmer, a survivor, and a life-long positive thinker.
A recent knee injury slowed Eva down a little. She’s replaced her daily run with power walking and swimming and as the current Ms. Idaho Senior America will participate in the 2019 National Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey slated for the end of October.
My sister asked me to tackle a couple of subjects with blog posts, the first being how my birth position in our family might have influenced the way I handle my role as a grandmother. This is no small feat considering I have a brood close to a couple dozen.
I am the eldest in a family of six children with four sisters and a brother. I use the present tense with these associations even though all have passed with the exception of me and one sister. Breast cancer took our mom when she was but 56 years of age and colon cancer claimed a 42-year-old sister as well as my brother before he reached the age of 60. Two more sisters died within months of each other from Type 2 Diabetes complications. That same condition caused the death of my father when he was 78 years old.
I include this prelude to help you understand that life to me is precious and living a life where quality is as important as quantity is important to me. That said, I decided a long time ago to do what I could to live a healthy life, thus I don’t smoke or drink alcohol. I’ve also been proactive as far as having regular good health screenings with medical professionals. If I could more effectively control my weight, I’m sure I’d be better off.