“I’m 98 years old.”

A darling woman I met on the weekend proudly shared her age. My husband is part of a gardening club that volunteers to water flower gardens at a seniors home. I was waiting for him to finish dousing geraniums when I spotted this stylish woman crowned with snow-white curls. After she saw friends to their car, she spritely doubled back with her walker to say hello. I raised the routine topic of weather, but she had something more exciting in mind.

“I’m waiting for a friend,” she explained. “We’re practising to perform for women at the local prison. My friend plays the tambourine and I play honkytonk piano.”

As a writer, I couldn’t help drafting her backstory. My new acquaintance was born in 1925, sandwiched between the two great wars. What she must have seen over her lifetime! How was her life affected by the aftermath of World War One? What musical influence inspired her to chase honkytonk music? Before I could ask, her friend arrived and the two women went inside.

They rehearsed while I watched and listened outside a plate-glass window. The nearly 100-year-old pianist never missed a beat. She was radiant.

I recently thrifted “The Big Book of Lists to Live By” in which there is a list of things we are shaped by: friends, literature, music, pleasures, ambitions and thoughts. Our brief encounter showed evidence of all the aforementioned influences but literature. This woman is an inspiration to me and not just because her body has carried her for 98 years, but because she remains vibrant, interested in the world, and seeking opportunities to be of service to others.

Mary Catherine Bateson wrote, in her book Composing a Life, that “the need to sustain human growth should be a matter of concern for the entire society, even more fundamental than the problem of sustaining productivity.” I love this. No matter the endeavour, we should undertake it with joy and curiosity, and for the pleasure of doing the thing. This approach to life is the fountain of perpetual vigour I’d like to drink from.

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