Inside Outside? (Eleanor, Norman & Frances)

We're starting to hear more rumors about the Delta variant, and more news about its spread throughout the united states. But whatever happens, we'll get through it. We got through it before, and we'll get through it again. And this time we have the benefit of hindsight. Today's stories hearken back to the first lockdown and the days when we didn't understand how to use Zoom:

Eleanor Kazdan

09.24.2020

Zoom

Years ago I used to use Zoom for classes but 5 years ago before anybody really knew anything about it. I don't think we even realized that other people could see us. Because once I came on and a woman was just getting out of bed. And I'm like, “What? Doesn't she realize that we can see her?” You know, nobody knew much about Zoom 5 years ago.

Norman Cain

08.20.2020

My Life During the Pandemic

For 4 months due to the pandemic I have, like countless others, been homebound. That is a situation that is alien to me. This is the first time in my life that I have not been active.
The first two months of being deactivated were the hardest. It lead me to periodically think about those who were and have been incarcerated in state facilities for long periods of time. How they were cramped two to a cell and only allowed outside each day for a minimal amount of time. I counted in spite of the pandemic my blessings. I was not surrounded by hundreds of men. I could cook what I wanted to, had no curfew, had books, had to ability to access the internet, and constantly receive calls from friends, and I had several Zoom programs.
During the last 2 months of the pandemic I have become accustomed to becoming a forced homebody; couch potato if you will. Sometimes I prolong my need to venture outside to take care of business and I have never slept so much. Going outside affords me, when its not too hot, fresh air and becomes quite the adventure. One that leaves me exhausted and to the couch.
I tell myself that I am finally getting well needed rest, one for being active all of my life. However, I will be happy when the pandemic is over with so I can become super active again. 

Frances Bryce

06.18.2020

         Pass It Forward

The COVID-19 virus that has us now on Zoom instead of in a classroom with many other Best Day writers in the Senior Center. The good news is technology allows the class to continue. During this period at home, I have spent several hours looking at photo albums. I began thinking about my childhood with my siblings and the influence we had on each other. Early education and the influence the teacher had that encouraged us, and especially me, to do my best. After high school, I went to college to continue the process that began earlier. One brother also had finished a stint in the service and was a pharmacist, but I learned that he really wanted to be a med doctor. He helped me financially as well as my oldest brother, who had stated that our education was the answer to opportunities from the segregated South with limited future achievements and a poor outcome. To put the plan in action, we had what is now called “pass it forward” as each one was in a position to help the next one in line, and this is how we managed that everyone went to school or to do something that they really wanted to do. This worked for our family and each of us succeeded in achieving an independent lifestyle. I followed my brother who became a pharmacist. I majored in chemistry and math and became a research assistant and then other opportunities to learn and participated in other unrelated activities. One of the ones I enjoyed most was as a parent educator who was sort of a coach for parents with kids from 0 to 5 years old, and we reminded them how important their role was because the parent is the child’s first teacher. And English second was the thing that I liked and reading most. Donating to my alumni and selected charities was my effort to pass it forward.

If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have stories about new tech or new lockdowns, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.

And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

Vacation (Ann & José)

We didn't have as many older buds in Best Day this week...because they were going on vacation! Eleanor's in Toronto, Ann had gone to the beach on Tuesday, and even José went to visit his family in Mexico about a month ago. Now that a COVID vaccine is out on the market, people are ready to travel to visit friends and family and just plain go on vacation. Today we have a few vacation themed stories for you to read, wherever you are:

Ann von Dehsen

06.18.2020

Road Trips

Being the season of road, trips my mind goes back to my family’s yearly trip to the Pocono’s for a weeks’ vacation. Now we lived in northern New Jersey and in 1958 the Blue Route and Northeast Extension did not exist making this a 3-hour ride. We were a statistically correct American family. My father in the driver’s seat, my mother in the passenger seat, and my sister Ellen, age 11 and me, about age 7, are in the back seat, free form since seat belts have not yet been invented.
The windows of the very big Buick are rolled down and my parents both light a cigarette as they listen to a radio show called Rambling with Gambling. Not long into the trip Ellen and I begin to sing the entire score of one of many Broadway shows for our parents. And this is how you know we had great parents: they actually listened to and applauded every song despite the fact that we could not sing to save our lives.
At some point our mom would hand out paper and crayons or markers so we could draw the sights outside our window. I proceeded with an even row of green at the bottom of the page and an even row of blue at the top of the page with stick figures and flat boxy buildings. I tried not to get discouraged as I looked over at Ellen’s creation; after all she was almost 5 years older than me. But her drawings featured perfect perspective and shading, realistic people, and animals. Well, this was actually a foreshadowing of her future career as a brilliant watercolorist and muralist.
Well besides being artistic my sister Ellen had a flair for the dramatic. About halfway through the ride she began to mention her hunger and mention it and keep mentioning it and get louder and then finally giving out a dramatic, “If we don’t stop soon, I am going to faint.” So, luckily, we were usually near a favorite little lunch place where they served grilled hot dogs in those little paper holders along with frosted mugs of root beer.
Ellen’s eyes were often bigger than her stomach and she had at least 2 hot dogs and then we’d endure a brief period of her stomach distress back in the car. Eventually things calmed down and we often spent the rest of the trip enjoying travel bingo as we entered the town of Mt. Pocono.

José Dominiguez

10.29.2020

Mariposa: The Butterfly

Hi there, if you walk by 19th St and South you will find us, just walk a few steps to Naudain St. and a little neighborhood will appear. House lined up, one near the other. You can’t see the big differences among them, but there are: the color, the number of floors, the façade, the presence of trees and flowers. This is the front of my house. It piles many details in a short surface, one tree, a stair, one railing, two windows, several pots with plants and flowers.
Come, let me introduce some things around me. I have to tell you that this summer has been interesting, perhaps I haven’t had lots of friends, perhaps I have lost some of them but at least I have done some paintings. I have struggled with my procrastination and impatience to manage some pieces.
I have to tell you that my dear companion in this pandemic is Sofia and Amalia. At the beginning she was attending school by internet but later vacations came and she, looking for companionship, asked me daily to play with her. Our favorite play was her dolls. I manipulated some of them as if they were puppets and created an atmosphere of make believe, there we danced, sang, fought and laughed; our main doll friends were Babas, Bebe and Oso. Sofias invitation/command was: “Pepe let’s play Babas”.
Now the summer inserted us in a lethargic anxiety to feed us with sun and light; our back door was a variegated spectacle; our balcony was transformed in a small garden full of delicious and beautiful promises. Those little seeds Alfonso planted, in few days resulted in growing mass of multiple variation of greens, yellows, brows and even purple and reds. Each day our watering refreshed those tiny growing sprouts.
One morning I was watering the plants at the balcony and Sofia appeared near me saying:” Look Pepe there are some caterpillars” I focused my sight in the parsley and 4 or 5 caterpillars arose, they were devouring fiercely some plants. “Wow” I told her “I hope they have enough food to survive for the next step”;
“What do you mean by that” she questioned;
“ Well caterpillars are eaters, they eat as much as possible because are preparing themselves for the next step.”
“To be cocoons” she yelled raising the voice; “… and you know what Pepe, from the cocoon they are going to raise as butterflies”.
“Like flowers from the stems” I added; “And what happen later?” I asked her;
“they simply fly, they simply fly”.
“Where are they going ?” I asked her;
“I don’t know I never have been a butterfly but I guess the just love to fly;”
“Do you like to fly Sofia?”
“I don’t have wings but those aren’t necessary, If I want I can speak with Babas, Bebe and Oso, If I want I close my eyes and I can be playing in the park.”
One morning attached to the wall there it was a yellow-brown cocoon; It looked so fragile that I thought the caterpillar had to struggle a lot to find the proper place to rest. Several days later Sofia climbed vigorously the stair and rushed into my room saying: “Pepe you have to come, you have to see what happened with the cocoon.”
I follow her frantic scape. A fragile butterfly was there stepped on the cocoon’s empty shell. She was waiting, I guess its wigs were not totally dry, it was just waiting.
“Do you like it?” I asked her:
“Yes” she yelled, “it’s beautiful”.
“Do you know something Sofia, you are like this butterfly”,
“…in what sense” Sofia asked;
“Well you leave a stage in your life and enter in a new stage, until….”
“Until death?” she interrupted me.
“No until you find your real self, later, death is not important”.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because life matters more than death.”
“I don’t understand Pepe….”
“Neither do I, but let this butterfly be”.
And life waiting to flourish is giving Sofia opportunity to live, moment by moment.

If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have vacation stories, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.

 

And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

In Person! (Liz, Jewel & Denise)

Well, last Tuesday was our first day back in the Philadelphia Senior Center since March 12th, 2020. It's been a long time coming, and there have been a few changes; such as the seating.

Social distancing is in place, but we've still got a full class: both at the PSC and our Zoom Room:

 

And that means we'll be have stories submitted to us on paper, which will make things easier for some of the transcribers. Especially without Zoom muffling everyone's stories. And we also have the triumphant return of older buds Jewel and Liz! To celebrate, we've got an epic tale about Liz's grandson seeking out a new life, a day out with Jewel's niece, and an Atlantic City vacation with Denise and her mom.

Liz Abrams

02.11.2021

A Way of Escape

This is a story of what happened to my middle grandson in 1990’s.
The family was missing the grandson for a long while—too long—and so it caused us to start checking all possible facilities in the city to no avail. After a while, about a year and a half later, not too soon, his mother, my daughter, received a postcard from Tokyo, Japan from the missing grandson. The assertive young man at 19 had a powerful build, six-foot-two, two hundred and fifty pounds, an excellent athlete in high school, and a strong competitive game player online. The best day of my life that year, we spoke to him by phone. His friend in Japan, another game player, invited him to visit and made him gain employment there. The host family paid his transport and he landed in Tokyo, warmly welcomed, and his dark complexion did not deter his opportunity for employment with the security company. The employer trained him in basic martial arts. Later on, we learned that he had a basic command of the language, and that landed him another position in Kyoto as a personal bodyguard for a well-known Osaka celebrity. Of course, the family all breathed a great sigh of relief, realizing that the grandson living in Philadelphia did not have much chance of survival, he made his own escape. The grandson is now a living example and role model for his younger siblings and neighborhood youth. They don’t have to live under siege.

Jewel Grace

11.12.2020

A Day With My Niece Noelle

One day in around 1997 my nine year old niece came to visit me in my apartment in South Philadelphia.
Boy what a day that was! I hadn't spent a lot of time with Noelle previous to this visit, so it was quite a surprise for me. My apartment was kind of cluttered so I watched as Noelle picked up pieces of jewelry, different wigs and a boa, playing dress up. She pranced around making various poses, giggling all the while.
Then we went to my job as it was a work day for me.
I worked at a small retail store called Earth Bound. We carried unscented lotions and we had a huge circular rack in the middle of the store filled with perfume and every scent you could imagine.
So when we got there of course Noelle when right up to the cash register and pretended that she was the cashier. I was like, “Oh my! How can I ever handle this child?”
In the end, that didn't matter. We both had a great time, even though I'm sure I was the only one who remembered it.

Denise W

02.18.2021

Atlantic City in the 60s 

I want to talk about, as a child my mother would travel all of the time.
The one place we really enjoyed is Atlantic City, but we enjoyed Atlantic City back in the 60's. It was completely different from what you see now. There certainly weren't any casinos there. It was a very family oriented environment.
We would stroll along the boardwalk, buy saltwater taffies. I would get on rides at the Steel Pier. And of course the beach was a big part of excitement, enjoyment.
And we would go to a bathhouse, its called Irene's Bathhouse. We would go to Irene's, you’d pay something, you get to change into your bathing suit. You would leave your clothes in the locker, go out to the beach, have fun.
And then when you came from the beach you'd be sandy and and grimy and you would be starving to death. So the good news, at Irene's you could always take a nice shower
put on your new clothes and then you’re going back out to the boardwalk.
At that point we would find wonderful things to eat. If you wanted a snack it would be everything you could imagine popcorn to cotton candy, anything you can imagine was there to eat. The french fries were the best. But dinnertime was especially the best because we would go to this place at the very end of the pier, it was called Captain Starn's.
Captain Starn's was a seafood restaurant extravaganza. It had every type of fresh seafood there, it came right out of the ocean, of course right there was the Atlantic Ocean. So you could get clams, you could get fried shrimp, Anything you could imagine they had. Also at Captain Starn's it was great that after eating—remember we're all clean and fresh, we don't have that nasty, yuck sand on us—and the we would go get a boat ride. Captain Starn's was on a pier they would have fast boat rides, and then they would have the slow cruises. So when it was hot we would love, what's called the speed boat rides because you feel the waves, the wind and the breeze from off the ocean while you’re moving quickly on the boat. So it was just wonderful. Or when we wanted to relax we'd get on the sightseeing boat that was about an hour and a half but it was more of a cruise, a slower pace. Either way it was fun.
Then of course we'd go to Fralinger’s. Fralinger’s was a place that had salt water taffy, they had the fudge. I'm trying to think of the place that we got the fudge but I think it was steel Pier 2. The fudge was delicious. We would always want to take back souvenirs of water taffy.
I think I covered it, pretty much. But the idea, we stroll on the boardwalk we would stop at various shops and concession stands but going to Atlantic City was perhaps one of the best. And there was an Apollo Theater there was entertainment also, and the Planters’ Peanut House and the Easter parades. Going to Atlantic City in the 60's probably early 70's before the casinos came was perhaps one of the happiest experiences of my life. Sometimes when I go now, even thought I’ve enjoyed some days in the casinos, I don’t enjoy what is. I go all the way back to what was.
The End

If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have in-person stories, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.

 

And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.

 

 

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

In Person? (Joan, Michael, Delores)

We've got some big news: Our next session will be in person at the Philadelphia Senior Center. This is a major step for Best Day, and one that the older buds have been asking about for ages. The Senior Center itself is taking extra steps to make sure their buildings are clean and everyone is protected from COVID. Expect to see some very different Senior Selfies in a very different location in the near future. In the meantime, please enjoy these stories from before the lockdowns and quarantines:

Joan Bunting

01.08.2019 

A Concert

You know, Eleanor’s story about her singing voice reminded me of something that happened to me a while back. I was in the Union Baptist Church choir and was chosen to sing a solo for their next concert. I invited my 20-year old daughter to come see me sing, but afterwards she said, “I thought you said you had a solo today.” I said, “I did have a solo today!” She said, “Which song?” And when I told her she said, “That was you? I thought that was a man singing!"

Michael Tseui

01.09.2019

My First Job

You know, I got my first job by accident. I was in Philadelphia for school and I was looking for a job. I saw one in the newspaper for a microbiology job at a hospital in Levittown. I went to SEPTA and asked how I could get there, and they told me which train to take. I took it all the way up, and started looking for the hospital that posted the job. Only then did I realize that the job I was looking for was in Levittown, New Jersey, but my train took me to Levittown, Pennsylvania. I asked told the man at the station about my predicament and he said ‘Wherever you’re going to will probably be closed by the time you get there. It’ll be past 5 o’clock on a weekday and all the offices will be closed.’ I didn’t know what to do, so I opened up another newspaper and started reading...and I found another hospital in Levittown, PA posting a job for the exact same position. I went in that day and got the job after one interview. I couldn’t believe my luck!

 

Delores Wilson

06.09.2019

The Thiller in Manilla

It wasn't because Mohammad Ali was just a good looking guy, the way he carried himself got my attention. He spoke well and I he would follow through to whatever he said to his opponent. My guy friends had given me insight into boxing and I began to see boxers as gladiators. I watched Mohammed Ali on television and he looked pretty dancing around his opponents. Soon my guy friends heard that the Thriller in Manilla was going to be televised on a large screen at the Spectrum, we bought tickets right away. When we were at the Spectrum, the crowd was already pumped up. One could see the electricity in the air. Before we got settled we decided to go to the concession stand. Before we could take our seats, the fight was over in the first round. Mohammad lost and Joe Frasier won. We stood there in shock.

If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have stories from before the COVID times, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.

 

And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.

 

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

July 4th (Liz, Frances and Ann)

The Fourth of July is coming up, so today's blog post is a little about barbecue, a little about history, and a little about what it means to be an American:

Liz Abrams

02.11.2021

South Street

I just remember South Street when they had the festival and they had the tables and chairs in the middle of South Street, and they closed South Street down during the summer. I don’t know if that’s an annual event, but I remember when my husband was in the last legs of his cancer and he lost his appetite. And so, we went to South Street and they had this wonderful barbecue restaurant on the corner.
The smell, oh the aroma would just turn your stomach into knots, and he didn’t have any appetite at all. And he hadn’t eaten any really good, substantial food in a whole week or so because the chemo had taken his appetite away. So, we went over and the guy that was behind the counter gave us an order of these delicious barbecue spareribs and fries. The restaurant’s not even there on the corner, I think it was around 7th or 8th or somewhere around there.
We sat at the table with some tourists and my husband started eating these spareribs and talking about how good they were and the smell of them and everything. And I was just about congratulating him and had tears of joy to watch him eat this food that he hadn’t eaten in so long. These people that were from Sweden, I was clapping my hands, and they said “Why are you so happy?” and I told them. And as he got up everybody at the table got up and cheered him because he was finally eating some food.  

 

Frances Bryce

06.04.2020

Something I Want to Say

I have something I want to say about all of the things that’s going on that we certainly can’t ignore. That it happened and people are still demonstrating. And sometimes I think I want to talk about people who don’t understand or know about Black culture and what is happening with the Black men in our society. And as a mother of a Black young man when I saw that cop with his knee on his neck, I immediately thought about my son, about my nephews about my husband and about all of the people.
And then when the peaceful march started and there was some looting or something and then the emphasis seemed to have shifted to the effect and not the cause of all of this thing. So when you don’t know a culture about a people and you find out they are angry, and also there’s always an element who’s there for the ride, I call it, no matter what you’re doing.
I had the experience when I was working where these two young women, two Caucasian women, who whenever there was any unrest, they lived out in the suburbs, and they came in because it was sort of a thing to do. And I’m sure your going to find that element. But that’s not what I want to emphasize in this case. I want to emphasize the pain the race has undergone since slavery and still goes on. I’ll just give one example that hasn’t been that long ago.
My husband who was working for General Electric at the time, a scientist, he was a scientist. They were converting algae to methane gas and then he was going to be interviewed. The person from the news station came in to interview him and then a Caucasian man came in right after that. The interviewer interviewed both of them, and the guys sort of responded. My husband who had told me about the interview that was going to take place and I was excited to see it. When he came in he said “The interview I gave is on the floor” and the only thing we saw was him diving off the back of the boat and white guy, who was an employee of my husband, was the person that gave all of the information and was the interviewee. So those are the kind of things that go on.
Some years ago when my husband was at GE in Valley Forge and there was a department store, and we were waiting to be served. And just how you could be ignored. I was there, and maybe three other people were there, all of Whom were not Black. And the girl who came up to serve, instead of asking who’s next, she went right over to my white brothers and sisters. And I said, “I was next” and the white guy waiting apologized. It wasn’t his fault. It was how you automatically discard another person and go for what is comfortable to you.
And I’ll just give you another example of how all these things accumulate over time. This isn’t the worst part; He was never beaten or all that kind of stuff. In a workplace where you are a professional and you should have as much weight as anybody else and then he was working with another company that wanted to do some business with GE and this white guy came up and he wasn’t going to talk to him because he was Black. So GE had to say, if you’re going to business with my company you have to do this business with him. So think about how that affects your mental and ability to be a person and a man in this world. So those are the types of things I wanted to explain.
So, the other part I just thought that maybe if white people who are joined in this demonstration, especially young people, they are always the ones who change things. If they could make an effort to meet a Black person, and even volunteer to do some work in some of the schools that are not served, then they can continue being involved with the people they’re demonstrating with. Those are the things that I thought might be relevant for people who don’t know about the pain and suffering over years of the people who have been stopped by cops, when you didn’t have a camera, and they do anything and that was it. I want the people to keep in mind and think about the cause of why these things happen. See, Black folks already know about white people, but seldom do a lot of white folks have a friend or an acquaintance where they can talk about any issue. Get to know the other people who are in your world.  

Ann von Dehsen

01.16.2020

Vanessa, Part 2

Last year I wrote about Vanessa, my sister Ellen’s long-time pen pal from England who came to visit our family in 1968 when she and Ellen were both 18. A quick synopsis—Vanessa was charming, engaging, funny, generous, and always ready for a good time. We too her to a Broadway play, toured Washington DC and went to her first baseball game where she loudly rooted for Willie Mays (on the Giants team) while wearing a Yankees baseball cap and her first pair of cut-off denim shorts. Though she seemed totally unaware of it, she was also a stunning, head turning natural beauty who often caused teenage boys in the neighborhood to be momentarily speechless.
By the time her 2-week visit was over we had fallen in love with her and shared a tearful airport departure as she wiped hear tears and promised to come back again. And now, Part 2: Vanessa did indeed come back 5 years later accompanied by her new husband, John. John was the male version of Vanessa, sharing both her personality and her good looks. Now it was the teenage girls, myself included, who were often speechless in his presence.
John perfected his impressions of American accents, taking on the personas of Elvis Pressley and Richard Nixon. He also became addicted to Dunkin Donuts which had not yet invaded the British Isles. He often took an early morning walk returning with a large box of “Dunkies” as he called them.
Both John and Vanessa were lifelong Londoners and followed the Royal Family with awe, interest and respect. Princess Ann’s wedding was happening during their visit, so Vanessa asked my parents if she and John could quietly watch the 5am live televised wedding in the living room while the rest of us slept. Of course, my mom said yes. That morning my mom and I got up before John and Vanessa and decorated the living room with streamers and paper wedding bells. She prepared Earl Grey tea in the China tea pot that Vanessa had given her and prepared cream cheese tea sandwiches—along with a plate of Dunkies, of course.
A surprised and happy Vanessa and John came into the living room followed by my drowsy father and sister. We placed paper crowns on everyone’s head and settled in to watch the proceedings. John and Vanessa were glued to the screen while sipping tea and frequently saying things like lovely, beautiful and wonderful. We Americans however sat snuggled under a comforter trying to stay awake. When it was finally over, my father popped a bottle of champagne and we toasted the wedding of people I had never heard of as dawn finally broke.
Their visit went by quickly and once again we found ourselves sobbing at the airport departure gate. Vanessa again promised they would return, and they did—which will be the subject of a future story.

If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have stories about America's history, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.

 

And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.

 

 

 

Curated by Caitlin Cieri