In the News

Every weekday morning, my husband gets up, fixes his lunch for work, and heads out the door, grabbing the newspaper on his way out. Every weekend morning, I get up, grab a cup of coffee, and head to the Sweat Shop, newspaper forgotten on the front porch.

I like to read my news. It used to be that my husband would only take the sports section to work with him, which was fine by me. I used to skim through the rest of the newspaper with my first cup of coffee; now I read blogs instead, and we generally tend to miss out on news of events and things to do in our community. Keeping an eye out for things to do isn't high on my husband's list of what to read in the newspaper.

Nevertheless, I usually try to at least look through Yahoo News so I don't feel like I'm living under a rock. Quirky stories appeal to me--maybe you guessed that about me?

I've noticed a trend lately. Every couple weeks, there seems to be a story about the oldest person in the world dying. Yesterday it was a 114-year-old lady in Japan, Yone Minagawa, who had held the title of oldest living person since January. If Mrs. Minagawa has held the title since January, who are all these other old folks who have passed away lately, who are supposedly the world's oldest? It's a mystery to me. Also a mystery is who keeps tabs? And why? And why is it news? (That's Mrs. Minagawa up there--looks pretty good for 114, doesn't she? I wouldn't have guessed she was a day over 97.)

According to the story, Mrs. Minagawa enjoyed eating sweets. My kinda gal. If that's the secret to longevity, I'm heading there. Mrs. Minagawa also credited her long life to getting a good night's sleep. Not me, I think. I stay up too late, sometimes eating sweets. I'm striving toward a balance.

On Mrs. Minagawa's last birthday, we're told she enjoyed a lunch of western-style food (bread, stew, salad, and dessert). That's probably where she made her mistake. We all know that kind of thing will kill you.

I wonder who the next title holder will be? I always love the stories where some old fart credits his long life to a daily shot of whiskey and a good cigar. I figure there's hope for the rest of us. I don't know about you, but I have a TON of fabric that I need to use before I move on out of here. I think I need to live to be 150 years old. No time for sleep if I'm to use it all, but I guess I'll stop by the store on the way home and pick up some sweets. It's medicinal. Really. Quit rolling your eyes!