Still Striving for More at 92
Yesterday, my wife and I happened to watch a YouTube video about Sae Awatsuji, a designer and doll artist.
Ninety-two years old.
She was in fine form right from the start.
She wondered aloud whether she might live another five years.
At 92, she is still looking five years ahead. That alone struck me as wonderful.
I do not think longevity itself is the purpose of life.
Living longer is not necessarily what matters.
But watching her, I could see that she had reached 92 while enjoying everyday life and continuing to do what she wanted to do.
I thought: that is a good way to grow older.
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She keeps her body moving and even does hanging exercises, supporting her own weight.
What struck me was how straight she stood.
She talks about exercise as though she has little fondness for it.
Yet she makes a point of doing what she feels she needs.
I found that interesting too.
There is little sense of someone making a great effort to stay healthy.
Of course, that does not mean she makes no effort at all.
Perhaps what looks like effort to an observer has simply become an ordinary part of her day.
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The moment that stayed with me most was when she looked at her earlier work and said, in effect, that she needed to work harder now.
She was not simply looking back fondly on the good old days.
She was looking at her past self and giving her present self a push.
Even at 92, she believes she can do more.
I loved that outlook.
As we grow older, there will surely be things we can no longer do.
And yet, we can still feel that there is something more within us. We can look forward to what we have yet to create.
I thought that I would like to hold on to that feeling too.
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Her home was full of her sense of style.
The many kettles, the furniture, the things around her.
Each one reflected her taste.
These are the things she surrounds herself with every day.
Seeing how she lives, I felt I understood what she meant when she said that the things that make life worth living can be found in small places.
We do not live only to achieve something grand.
There are things we love, things we want to make, and today we turn our attention to them again.
If that is how she has reached 92, one day at a time, what a rich life it has been.
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If I remain healthy until her age, I still have a long way to go.
Of course, I do not know how long I will live.
But even at 90 or 100, I would like to believe there is still a little more I can do.
Will I be able to look at my earlier work and think that I need to try harder now?
I would be happy to grow older that way.
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