This week in class, we checked in with each other about how our week was going. It was definitely comforting to hear about the other seniors being stressed about graduation and life after undergrad. It’s definitely been something that has been constantly on my mind this quarter and it just blows my mind to think about how time went by so fast. It still feels like it was just yesterday that I was a lost little freshmen. We then did book presentations on the first part of John Leland’s book. I really enjoyed reading this book because it made me reflect on my own life and wonder if I’ll feel the same emotions as the seniors when I become their age. I was one of the presenters for my group and, let me just say, I really didn’t expect to get so emotional. One of our discussion questions, “At what point do you honor your loved ones wish for DNR over your own desire to keep them alive?” brought up all the thoughts that I’ve been harboring inside regarding my own parents. Seeing two of my best friends go through unexpected familial losses made me realize that my parents are also getting older and that death is inevitable. It taught me how important it is to live in the present and not stress so much over the future, like the book emphasizes. Happiness is truly a choice that I can make with the right mindset. I was glad to see that my own emotions touched my peers as well because it showed that this question is a conversation that needs to be discussed among loved ones. Days like this remind me how glad I am to be taking this class and how much I’ve learned in it thus far.
Today, we met up earlier in front of Casa de Mañana to talk about our HAP’s. It was so nice to work outside because the weather and the scenery were beautiful. Even the professors agreed so much that we took a group picture in front of the ocean. Afterwards, we went inside to meet more seniors for the LEG activity. The senior woman that I talked to was named Deetta. When I told her my name, she told me that people often think that her name is Deanna. I thought that was interesting because people always think my name is Diana. Deetta mainly talked about her life of traveling. She has traveled to all seven continents and almost all the states in the U.S. except for North Dakota. Her most memorable trip was to Antarctica, where she saw a ship almost sink. I was impressed with her amount of traveling given that she had nine kids. I asked her how did she find the time to travel with having so many kids. She had done all of her traveling when she retired and all her kids were grown. At 20, she was close to graduating college with a degree in sociology and psychology. She was also engaged as well to her husband, who was an engineer. For her career, Deetta became a teacher for special needs kids for 25 years. I was amazed at her life and how she has been able to age gracefully at 91 years old. She most definitely had an interesting and fulfilling life and I hope to be able to travel as much as her one day.
I was glad that we had a late start to class this week because it seems like I still cannot catch my breath this quarter. We did not go to the same location as we did last time when we went to Bayside, but right across the street from it. I was a little bummed that we could not do Zumba with the seniors again this time since the new location was smaller and was not able to accommodate all of us. However, I remembered that some of the seniors that we did Zumba with last time were here at this new location. It warmed my heart knowing that these seniors were continuing to stay active in their community and that some even remembered us from last time! Additionally, I enjoyed the LEG activity that we did with the seniors. It was really interesting to learn about the seniors lives at our age. The senior woman that I spoke to was from out-of-state. At 20, she did not know what she wanted to do and her brother thought it was unacceptable for an unmarried 20 year old to be doing nothing. So, she moved to California with her brother and got a certificate in typing. She then got an office job, where she met her husband. She had said how a majority of her coworkers were men and that not a lot of women were working at the time. After she met her husband, they got married, had three kids, and has stayed in California ever since. After telling her story, she asked each of us where we were from and what “ingredients” we were made of. I thought it was a bit odd of a question until I realized that she was trying to ask about our ethnicity. She praised us for being in college, pursuing a career and reminded us that we may end up somewhere else besides California like herself. Her statement made me wonder if I actually was going to move somewhere else and almost scared me because I cannot imagine living anywhere else. The future can be overwhelming, but when I think of these seniors and how far they have come, it does not seem so bad after all.
I enjoyed seeing everyone on the first day of class. It was interesting to hear what everyone did during their spring break. I know I definitely took this break to recoup from last quarter. Thankfully, this quarter seems to have a more manageable workload. We went over our HAP’s this class period and it was good to do some more planning. I felt that it was a little difficult to get a solid proposal over break because everyone had different schedules so I was glad that we had more time to work on it. I am a part of the walkathon group so we mainly went over which possible locations and dates that we might choose. We found that Mission Bay would be our best option since there is a clear paved path and pretty scenery. We additionally shortened the length of our walk because we realized that it would take a while for seniors to walk a 5k. I had also let my group know about an elderly woman that I met on my plane ride back to San Diego and she had told me that she was a part of a walking group called SD Walkabouts. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to invite her group to our walkathon. She seemed thrilled about the event and said she would spread the word to her group. There is still much more that my group needs to discuss, such as the budget and advertising, but we have made good progress.
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Deanna fongWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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