In this article is the message she sent from Rancho La Puerta, the spa she started off in Tecate, Mexico, with her husband when she was 17 yrs previous.—Chaz Ebert
Of course, Now is My 100th Birthday
by Deborah Szekely
I awoke early at Rancho La Puerta, listening for the seems of something taking place on the lawn outside my casita just as I did when Sarah and Alex were very little. “Shush,” I would whisper to them. “Let us get dressed!” Back then, we allowed cars and trucks on the house, so I could listen to numerous doors currently being closed gently. Workers customers ended up arriving. Tables were being becoming set up with big pots of scorching chocolate. The tamales and conchas were all set.
At 7:00 a.m., I arrived out the front door nonetheless in my bathrobe (a tradition) and was greeted by a mariachi band in whole voice, trumpet echoing off the hills, big bass guitar thumping, violins keening. The patio experienced been turned into a bower of bouquets. And a person expensive buddy, José Lupe, has introduced me one rose per calendar year of my lifestyle because I was in my 30s. What a amazing way to start out the working day!
Dew was on the grass. The dawn slanted toward Mt. Kuchumaa, portray it a muted, mystical indigo. Various hundred voices broke into singing Las Mañanitas, the Mexican custom at birthdays.
Despierta, mi bien, despierta. Wake up, my darling, wake up.
Amidst all the greetings and enjoying incredibly hot chocolate and conchas, I realized: I am a statistic and a curiosity—only 1.73 of us (of me!) for each 10,000 folks are living this very long. 100! To me, it is only a quantity on paper. I can not accept it. In no way can I be 100!
My gratitude for my lengthy life is inexpressible. The number, having said that, makes no feeling to me. Here I am at 100, but I continue to really feel like the youthful female who arrived listed here with Edmond in 1940. I nevertheless make unlimited choices in my lifestyle, large and modest. There is even now so considerably expected of me, and I hope a wonderful offer from myself. I am entirely unprepared for being this “previous.” For one particular detail, so several persons arrive up to me and check with what my secret is, what words of knowledge I can share. And I’m speechless.