The Lounge of Sandy

It is an honor for me to be invited to a 100^th birthday of one of the many people I really admire.  At 99 turning a 100 in 2 days, Rae is an exceptional person!  She is very sharp and it’s very unusual nowadays that a 100 year old be as active as she is.  Rae was born in 1907 in the East Coast but was raised in San Francisco Bay area. I read in one of the local magazines here that featured her lately, saying that she’s even older than the Golden Gate of San Francisco because she was in her 20’s when they basically started constructing it!   

Every year, she always makes it a point to do something special on her birthday.  On her 98^th birthday, Rae rode an elephant.  Last year at 99, she had a scenic flight of the Cascades along with her younger brother and a staff from work.  This year for her 100^th, she will go on a motorcycle ride (a Harley, baby!). 

In our facility, we have an essential shop, it is like a small sari-sari store in the Philippines with all kinds of goodies that the residents will need on a day to day basis.  Those who look after the shop are residents who are volunteers of the facility and one of them is Rae.  Every Wednesday morning, she would always come to my office to get the key and the cash box and she never forgets to hand me a candy which she always has ready on her purse.  Believe me, she really is a sharp cookie little lady (at 4’9”) because she would sometimes have several business dealings and she adds up the amount correctly doing it manually! If it will be in my case, I’ll surely need the help of a calculator to add up the amount of several items that she sold in one ticket/receipt. But Rae as I said is very exceptional! 

Would you believe that she addressed herself all of the invitation cards that she sent including staffs invitations?  She just didn’t send a few but I guess they were almost a 100 because she requested one of our receptionists to make that invitation cards for her.  That’s how sharp she is and I wish to be like her when I get to that age (wish ko lang).  

Tomorrow (Friday), her 100^th birthday will be announced in the local morning show here and so is in NBC’s Today Show. 

Have a great weekend everyone!