Eric plays on a softball team that is comprised of people from work, and for the past few games I have noticed two elderly gentlemen on the opposing team who contribute to their plays. Player one is a fit runner (probably more fit then I could ever hope to be) but player two is not. He has a round belly, a smiling face, with snowy white hair, and if I didn't know better I would say he is Chris Cringle down from the North Pole taking his hand at swinging the bat. He is my favorite. The thing I love about him is he tries so hard. He may not move very fast or throw very accurately, but he gives everything in trying. He has spunk.
When my grandmother was making my wedding dress, Eric said he might sneak down to her house and get a peek, until he found out that Grandma has a gun. No really, she does. While standing on Grandma's back porch taking aim,she has surprised a few animals by trimming their hair. So with a grin, Eric decided that visiting Grandma to get a peek was not really in his best interest. She has spunk.
I was reading an article today about an elderly couple in London who were faced with defending themselves in their own home. The Eighty year old wife, whose assailant had a knife, said to him "You call that a knife? This is a knife", showing him a kitchen carving knife. What spunk!
I can only hope to have as much spunk when I'm elderly. Maybe having elderly spunk is one of those things we grow into... Either way, it is something to look forward to.
4 comments:
"We do not cease to play because we grow old. We grow old because we cease to play." - George Bernard Shaw
"It's not the skill of the man. It's the will of the man." - Movie quote He Got Game
Apparently the English couple had seen "Crocodile Dundee II."
Dan's in a municipal softball league with a group of guys from church, definitely on the young side. They totally got bushwhacked by a group of 50+ year olds two weeks ago. I mean, there were more knee braces on the field than ball caps. They were great - hard hitting and hustling and executing well.
And I too am a big fan of elderly people with spunk. Dan thinks the oddest thing about me is my tendency to change accent and vocabularly when I'm speaking to someone older. Suddenly I become some type of front porch sitting, grass chewing, crop watching Southerner. *shrug* Works for me. Dan has on occsasion muttered to me, "I have NEVER heard you use THAT word before."
I agree that Norma has spunk, but there is one word that I can not place with her and that is elderly...;)
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