Which little old lady do you want to be? Hemingway edition

What a pitiful year 2011 was for my bucket list! However, my son graduated from high school,  was accepted in to his dream college on almost full scholarship and I graduated with my M. Ed. in Instructional Technology. So things were done and life was lived.


In November, knowing one of my 1/1/12 resolutions would be to spend 3 months getting my body in tip top shape I joined a fitness studio and worked out for 5-7 hours a week the whole month. In December, even though I increased my workouts to 8-10 hours a week I still ended up gaining 5 pounds from the food. But it was less than the past and I feel stronger and fitter.

Yesterday to cross off one (and only one) item off my bucket List I spent time with my friend Debby who works as Activity Director in a nursing home. The hours I spent with the ladies playing bingo and decorating the dining room for the New Year's Eve special dinner were fantastic and I'm thrilled I had a chance to do it.

Watching the ladies, I spent a lot of time trying to think of who I wanted to be. I can tell you it was obvious which ones were fit and healthy and which didn't take very good care of themselves. Which ones had good relationships with families and friends and which ones were bitter and mean. Which ladies had lived their lives happily and which were lamenting chances missed and lives wasted.

So as I drove home I thought about how I wanted to live my life so that when I'm older people look at me and say I want to live her life. Not because it's so perfect but because of the way I handled things that were handed to me. When adversity makes me stronger, not sadder.

It made me think of a Hemingway quote I recently saw:

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.

And then when finding that quote I found this one:

A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

I would call these words to live by!