Productive life, sassy, sophisticated and lesson learned

Mockingbird. Illustration by Talitha Shipman

- From Georgia State University Alumna Anne Marie Evans, who turned 101 years old this month*,

How To Live To Be 100

• Be Tenacious. In the face of life’s obstacles, be innovative and creative. If you’re afraid or worried, don’t show it.
• Befriend Positive People.
• Value Education. Always get a good education because that’s the one thing they can’t take away from you.
• To Thine Own Self Be True. Analyze how you act and react. Know your skills and capabilities. Then set realistic goals and produce something in justify your existence. Have confidence in yourself and say your prayers because they will bear fruit. Get plenty of sleep and don’t worry about the things that might not happen.

* Originally posted in November 2008 (wow - doesn't that seem like a long time ago???)  This appeared in the GSU magazine I receive (since I am also alumna) and I cut this out and posted it in my cubicle back then.  Good words to live by that work for me.

- My book club read the book, "The Mockingbird Next Door" by Marja Mills and will meet about it Sunday night.  An easy read - it's about the months that the journalist / author lived next door to the fiercely private Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird", and her sister Alice, in Monroeville, Alabama.  I think the author, Nelle Harper and Alice all qualify as "sassy, sophisticated Southern Ladies".  If nothing else - the book tells you what day to day life was like for Harper Lee. 

- The November quote on the calendar in my office: "The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn." David Russell, Classical Guitarist*

Feeling reflective today - I ran across this post while scrolling through old posts.  Happy May 1st everyone and Happy Friday!

My old school, blending and graduates

- The Georgia State University mascot - the panther. Purposefully walking the long way to an appointment in downtown Atlanta so I could go through this part of the campus of my alma mater. That's my purse and bag on the bench in the second photo - I stopped at the bookstore and bought a fleece pullover with the same growling panther on the shoulder.

- I had never finished college, so went back as a full-fledged adult when I had the opportunity to go full time. On a chilly morning in January 2003, I carefully dressed in black turtleneck, belted jeans and boots. Looking at myself in the mirror, I thought, "No one will mistake me for a professor." I just wanted to blend in.

- Of course I didn't blend in. My first class was full of sleepy-eyed freshmen and sophomores. A young lady, April, the child of parents who had her late in life, immediately attached herself to me that morning because she is "more comfortable with adults" and walked with me through the campus later. By the end of my two years there and graduation, I did blend in a bit with my sweat pants and t-shirts and came to love this place. And April? She went on to law school, marriage, and passing the bar when she was eight months pregnant. She is now the mother of a baby girl and a working attorney.

How to live to be 100

Re-posting of a favorite from last year...

Mockingbird. Illustration by Talitha Shipman

- From Georgia State University Alumna Anne Marie Evans*, who is nearly 102 years old,

How To Live To Be 100

• Be Tenacious. In the face of life’s obstacles, be innovative and creative. If you’re afraid or worried, don’t show it.
• Befriend Positive People.
• Value Education. Always get a good education because that’s the one thing they can’t take away from you.
• To Thine Own Self Be True. Analyze how you act and react. Know your skills and capabilities. Then set realistic goals and produce something in justify your existence. Have confidence in yourself and say your prayers because they will bear fruit. Get plenty of sleep and don’t worry about the things that might not happen.

* Anne Marie Evans (M.A.'77, Georgia State's oldest alumna, celebrated her 101st birthday in November 2009. She emigrated from Nazi Germany in 1938, and over the past three decades she has authored five books, assisted dozens of older students with her endowed scholarship, and co-founded Life Enrichment Services, Inc., an educational organization for people over 50. She continues to work professionally as a social gerontologist.

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The weekend is starting early for me, friends. I am heading to mom's shortly to help her move to a new home in south Georgia - she will be closer to my sister and we are all excited about her new place. I'll see you on Monday and hope you have a wonderful weekend!