Ohh Ms. Julia

Once a month, sometimes twice, I meet with a group of ladies discussing education for women. I have a great time. There are anywhere from 15-20 ladies at each meeting. I am by far the youngest of all the ladies. The next up in age is at least 25 years older than me. It always makes me laugh because I can relate to these women more than I can to women of my own age. This truth does not bother me at all, because these ladies are amazing. They are all so funny, honest, sweet, genuine, and actually interested in each other's lives.

When with these women, I always find myself in the middle of every conversation and never at a loss for words. We talk about the medicines we take, the parts of our body hurting us at the moment, foods we can or can not eat, and our recent trips to doctors. After all of this, we usually move on to the weather, the news,our men, our families, our church and then our dogs. Being the youngest of all of these lovely ladies, I tend to spend a lot of time answering questions about 'these days'. Especially since they are all more comfortable in 'those days'. But being the youngest of a group of ladies that range from 23-94 is actually fun.

This past meeting, I was able to get to know one of these ladies a little bit better. I had met her, seen her, and talked to her on several occasions. I just hadn't really spent a lot of time getting to know her. While talking about our health, the questions were shifted to her. Most everyone was complementing her for being there because she is now 92. Let's call her Julia. Julia can't always hear the best, but she is in the middle of everything! She is the head of several committees and always dressed her best. She is on oxygen, she doesn't carry around a tank. No, she keeps her's in a very stylish bag. (In ten years, when I'm on oxygen this is who I plan to imitate.)

When the conversation shifted to her, everyone was at first asking her how she was doing. She insisted she was doing very well. One lady, a fellow church member of Julia, asked her about her latest with the doctor because she heard she might be on the prayer list. Julia quickly replied, "No. I told them not to waste their prayers on me, because I go to the casino three times a week."

On our way home from the meeting, I was talking with the lady who I rode with. Let's call her Claire. As we were talking about Ms. Julia, I told my neighbor how funny I thought Ms. Julia was. She began to tell me another story about her. Apparently, Ms. Julia was not always the size she is now. She has recently lost a lot of weight. Before she lost all the weight, Claire invited Julia over for coffee. Claire knew how much Julia liked to eat, so she made a loaf of banana bread.

After the first cup of coffee and a piece of bread, Claire offered Julia another cup and slice of bread. Julia said, 'No, I just started a diet. So only bring me two more pieces.' A few minutes later after Julia had consumed most of the bread, Claire inquired about Julia's new diet. Julia quickly informed her it was a VERY strict diet. It was so strict Julia could only go to Braum's 2 times a week now for biscuits and gravy.

When I am 92, hopefully I will remember Ms. Julia and apply her theories to life.