Bonnie Fatio interviewing Silvia Glatthard in Sardinia

What an amazing woman!  It seemed natural to continue this interview with Silvia Glatthard as we sat on the patio of mutual friends in Sardinia.  So we sat in the sunshine as she shared her passion for skiing which is just as strong at 80 as it was at 10.

“I was born in Interlaken, Switzerland.  We lived in the mountains so I began skiing when I was little.  I liked it a lot.  My father was one of the first skiers there.  He would take me to other mountains near by where we would have to walk up maybe two or three hours or more with the skis on the shoulder.  That made me love the nature, the snow and the skiing.  Very different from today, there was no chair lift.  We had to hike up when we wanted to ski down.  Then when I was about 10 my parents went to Murren for vacation in Springtime.  That’s where they had one of the first T-bars in the world.  So we went up and down the whole day.

I started competition when I was 17.  I started on the Swiss Championships in the Junior Class and it just happened that I won the downhill and the slalom.  Then they thought that I may be material for the National Ski Team.   Before I was 18 I participated on the Swiss National Ski Team at the Olympics in St. Moritz.  (The 1st Winter Olympics after the war in 1948)   Since I was the youngest I was a replacement and the forerunner in the Ladies Downhill. – I opened the slope for the race.    In 1950 we went to the World Championships in Aspen where I was in good form until I broke my leg just before the races began.

That was also where I danced with Gary Cooper.  Part of the team went to a bar one afternoon and there was Gary Cooper at the bar with a pretty woman.  I was so forward that I thought it would be something to dance with him, and with encouragement from my friends I went and asked him to dance.  So we had a little dance.  Someone took our picture and it was in a Swiss newspaper.  That was in 1950.

Then there were the Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.  There was no medal for me.  I am a specialist in the downhill, staight and fast.  There the downhill looked more like a Giant Slalom because it was in the woods and there were too many turns.  I finished 15th.  In international races I finished 4th several times, but that was my best.  I was on the podium several times in Switzerland as 2nd or 3rd, but not in the Olympics.

I still like to ski.  It’s a healthy sport. You’re out in the nature.  I love the snow and that chilly, crispy air, and I like the movement.  As soon as I stand on a pair of skis and they begin to move this is a special feeling for me.  You go; you move; you glide on the snow.  It’s very different from walking.  Today I ski as often as possible, but only when I have a good view, not when it is foggy or snowy.  It’s a bit dangerous for older people.  I go when the sun is out.  I become more prudent as I get older.

My husband was a skier also.  He was a Swiss champion in 35 and later captain of the Swiss Ski Team at the Olympics for all the ski disciplines.  In Aspen in 1950 he was at the Olympics with us as the only official.  He had to do everything.  Train, organize, meetings…  I knew him several years before as the big chief of the sport.  Then in Aspen he took me as his secretary because I was good in office work and we got closer.  We married in 1951.  He was 20 years older than me and I always respected him.  I loved him and I respected him.  We worked together in the business always.  He always took me with him when he visited customers.  We were selling sporting goods wholesale and later we had a little retail sport shop.  We have 3 boys and I am now a proud grandmother of 8 grandchildren, 6 boys and 2 girls.

We represented Kneissl skis from Austria to all customers in Switzerland for 20 years until the owner decided that they should have their own firm in Switzerland.  That changed the system and it was quite hard for us.  We had such great relations with the customers.  It happened when my husband was 70 and he wasn’t ready to retire.  He also started to build a hotel with 50 rooms when he was 65.  Sherpa Tenzing, the first climber on Everest, was a friend, so we named the hotel Sherpa Hotel.  He came to see us often.  Several Sherpa also came and my husband trained them in Alpine mountaineering.

I’ve been a widow for 7 years now.  My husband was nearly 93 when he passed away and I was able to do everything for him when he got ill.  A couple years were not easy, but I managed very well so that helped me a lot to be reasonable and to be thankful for everything we had together when he passed away.  I thought I had to expect this a little bit, but you never know what happens.  But since he was so much older than me this was the way it was, but I miss him very much still.”

Silvia Glatthard, 80, Swiss

Age Esteem is how you should try to manage your age.  How to deal with your age.  You should take aging as a normal thing.  It is natural to become old and older.  You should not do anything to go against that.  Accept it and just be happy and be thankful all the time.  I try to be like that and I am.

Silvia’s Tips:  Attitude.  This is my nature.  My mother had the same spirit. Just go along and make the most out of every day each day and be happy.  I have good friends.  Where I live everybody knows me.  When I go around everyone call outs to me.  The other side is that everybody knows everything about everyone else, but I don’t mind that.

Regard less yearly aging
Regard more, and then esteem
The Joys of Life, and be engaging
in Fulfilling your own dreams.

Written for Age Esteem by Alexandra Taylor

Lessons of Autumn

Why is it that we focus on our skin spots, scars and beauty marks as flaws?  So often what we see as beauty in others we identify as a blemish on our own body.

I think this photo of a single leaf gives us the answer.  If we examine it carefully looking at each detail, we find brown spots,  tears and scars.  However, when look at the total leaf, these “flaws” make it even more interesting and pretty.  And when we see it on the tree it enhances the overall beauty of the foliage because of it’s particularities.

The leaf offers us an important lesson of  beauty.  When we wash our face, shave or put on makeup we tend to focus on tiny details.  We seek the flaws. – So of course we find them!  But when we look at the total picture of who we are, our beauty is very different.  Our total is more attractive than each little detail.  Our wrinkles, brown spots, scars and blemishes actually enhance our look.  And when we add a smile, in the same way that the leaf shines with its color, we take on our own color.  Our inner beauty flows to the surface.  Oh, yes.  The leaf is a wonderful example of what makes us beautiful!

Age esteemers are beautiful people because they shine from within and wear a smile.

Bonnie Fatio

Not all of us associate autumn with chilly air and colored leaves.  What is autumn like in your country?  What does it look like?  Are there special traditions or holidays during this time of year where you live?  We would love to have you share what this season is like for you.

Bonnie Fatio

Lessons of Autumn

Do you remember rolling in the Autumn leaves?  Most of us who grew up in areas of the globe where Fall is synonymous with Autumn leaves spent happy moments of our childhood jumping into piles of leaves and scattering them with zest.

The other day as I was walking through the park I noticed several people watching me with looks of amusement.  When I began to wonder why, I realized that I was gleefully kicking leaves as I shuffled through them enjoying the swishy sound that they made and the crisp feel around my ankles.  Is there supposed to be an age limit for such pleasures?  Surely not, I decided as I alternated with kicking a chestnut ahead of me on the path.

We need to let our inner child loose more often.  There is no age for feeling happy and connecting with your inner child.  Play and laughter are among the healthy keys to age esteem, to feeling good about yourself at the age you are today, every day.  Play and laugh in the autumn leaves.

• Borrow a child and rake a pile of leaves in your yard, a park or the countryside and delight in jumping and lying in the leaves.  Scatter them.  Throw them at each other.  Enjoy.
• Walk along a lane lined with leaves.  Shuffle through them.  Kick them at you walk, marching like a soldier.
• Use a chestnut as a baby ball and kick it ahead of you on the path.  You may take turns with the child or each have your own and race with them.

Note:  If anyone stops you in the midst of your play and laughter, tell them that you are practicing an Age Esteem inner child technique.

Bonnie Fatio

Alex Stauffer, 67, Swiss

When I hear the term Age Esteem I think in our old age that we should be happier with what we have, including health and wrinkles, and not think “Oh I’m getting old now.” or “It’s too late.”

Alex’s tips:  I would say you have to love yourself and in order to love yourself you have to be in good health, so you need to do something about it.  I know I drink a little bit too much, but I eat healthy, I move a lot, I do my exercises, I try to help other people.  But it’s not always easy.

I’m a little short tempered with people who have health problems because they do nothing about it.  They do nothing to prevent the problems even when they have time to exercise and money to buy good food.  I know it is sometimes expensive to eat good fruit and vegetables instead of junk food, but if you can do that and don’t do it, I have no patience.

Autumn Lessons

Switzerland has a new campaign to remind drivers to “Slow down, take it easy”.  Whether or not we drive, this is good advice.  Slow down.  We all gain when we take time to slow down, step out of our routine, get a new perspective, re-evaluate and renew.  It also helps build our age esteem.  How do I want my life to be?

• Take a walk among trees and breathe in the odors of autumn.
• Lie on the autumn floor to get a new perspective of the trees and colors.
• Sit quietly with your eyes shut and commune with nature through the smells, sounds and feel.
• Feast your eyes on the beauty that surrounds you.
• Write your thoughts in a journal while in the midst of nature, allowing your thoughts to flow directly to your pen with no sensorship.

Bonnie Fatio

UP with growing older
Let your spirit soar,
Every day you’ll be much bolder
And wiser than before.

Written for Age Esteem by Alexandra Taylor

Lessons of Autumn

Autumn is such a beautiful time of year for those of us who live in regions of the world that have four seasons.  It is the season when trees change color as their leaves take on new hues and tones, bursting with yellow, red and orange.  Even a gray day shimmers with color, reminding us that there is also brightness in dark moments.

When life seems difficult and less than happy, I look to the autumn leaves.  They are in their fullest beauty during this third season of their lives.  Rather than worry about disappearing with the onslaught of winter, they wave in the wind and share their glorious colors.  This is their moment and they live it to the fullest in sunshine or shade.  They celebrate today, knowing that Spring will bring a new generation of buds blossoming into leaves that will equally shine and shimmer next Fall.

We too can celebrate each day and shine through our own inner colors.  That is where our true beauty comes from at every age.

Bonnie Fatio