This Is Your Lucky Day!

On a recent flight to the U.S. from Switzerland I was seated towards the front of the plane for the 11-hour flight. As is often the case when I fly, I boarded the plane early and stood next to my place and watched passengers as they boarded.

More often than not travellers think that I am one of the flight attendants. This is probably because my travelling attire is a navy blue pantsuit. Passengers ask me all kinds of questions that I sometimes answer. I pride myself in knowing that row 46 is most assuredly towards the back of the plane, etc. There are also some destinations that I prefer because of the attitude of the travellers from those areas, especially in Midwestern U.S. People from those regions bring basic values on board with them. They are happy to help others and are exceptionally polite to the flight attendant’s double – me.

As often happens on full flights, families get separated with seats scattered throughout the aircraft. This happened on one of my flights to Minneapolis from Amsterdam. A grandfather was seated alone in the center section where he would definitely need assistance to get out. When one of the daughters started showing stress over the situation, the young woman next to the grandfather smiled and said that it would be no problem. She would take care of him. She and the grandfather, who were just across the isle from me, had such a good time that neither even slept. And, when it was time to disembark, the elderly gentleman would offer his arm only to his young seat mate to help him out.

Let’s now return to the front of the plane on this same flight. Two rows in front of me was a couple sitting together and chatting. Shortly a woman came and announced loudly to the man, “I think you are in my assigned seat!” It was an excellent seat with extra legroom so I anticipated that he might try to keep it. Indeed he did, but not in the way that one would anticipate. He leaned towards the woman and said, “I am, and this is your lucky day! I have just bumped into this old friend of mine and since I would like to sit with her I am offering you my assigned seat – in business class.” She obviously did not argue, but graciously accepted the exchange.

I like his expression. “This is your lucky day”. So often unexpected experiences do transform our day into a “lucky day”.

Bonnie Fatio

Soul Mates

How many times have you met someone who was very different from you in culture, religion, race, experiences, etc. yet you felt an almost immediate connection with the person?

Frequently this happens as I meet new people. Sometimes it stimulates me to get to know the person so that I can discover why this is so. At other times I simply accept the fact that they seem to be a soul mate and enjoy the feeling of connection.

One such experience was during the first international conference where I presented AgeEsteem. Among the other keynote speakers was the South African Ambassador to Switzerland. Although she had been raised during Apartheid in a very different culture with a different color to her skin, as she told her story I knew that our souls merged. Despite different geographical and cultural beginnings, our origins were similar. We had been raised with comparable values and many of the same messages of support and encouragement during our formative years. Neither of us was raised in riches of money; both were raised among the riches of love, a zest for life, knowing education was essential if we were to reach our dreams, and with a faith in right overcoming wrong.

Similar experiences have greeted me over the years as I travel the world and connect with people who are doing amazing things in their own homes and communities. Sometimes these people are older; often they are younger; rarely are they the same age as I am. Age makes no difference. What is within us does. We are connected by yes, our experiences and origins in some cases and our visions and goals in others. – And we are always connected by our shared values.

Next time you meet someone, when you stretch out your hand to say hello, stretch out your heart also. You may find a soul mate.

Bonnie Fatio

Do You Hate To Fly?

Do You Hate To Fly?

If you find you have to fly

Try to think about the sky

Look, its almost always Blue

Clear and Bright – that could be You!

Young or old, each “flight” is new

If clouds be gray, what to do?

Just take the journey anyway –

Be happy for another day.

Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®

Alexandra Taylor, our Age Esteem Poet, spends several winter months in the land of her childhood roots, Palm Beach, Florida. Fortunately she is en route back home to Geneva, Switzerland. – Thus the topic of the poem.

We look forward to a new flow of verse to keep our rhythmic age esteem alive with rhyme and smiles. 

A Geneva Tradition: Escalade

Traditions are important as a means of bringing people together for a common purpose. We have family traditions that include celebrating holidays, watching the sunset and greeting visiting friends or family at the airport with flowers. There are also community traditions such as how people celebrate the national holiday together in their town.

The city and state of Geneva, Switzerland have a unique tradition of celebrating the Escalade. It is the day that they commemorate the citizens of Geneva fighting off the Savoyards during the night of December 11th 1602, and thus remaining independent and free.

There is much folklore around the festivities. One story tells of La Mère Royaume, a woman who took the cauldron of vegetable soup off the fire and threw it on the enemy soldiers. This has resulted in delicious chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables like those you see strewn over the table in the photo above.

These chocolate cauldrons are then smashed by the oldest and youngest person as they hold hands and say, “And thus perishes the enemies of the Republic!” This is to the great delight of all ages since you then eat the chocolate and its candy vegetables.

Bonnie Fatio

Albert Gallatin – Historical Age-Esteemer

I love to discover historical expositions that feature age-esteemers.  Albert Gallatin is one of these historical age-esteemers.

Few people know Albert Gallatin.  Certainly I don’t remember learning about him in history classes while growing up.  Yet this Swiss American was Secretary of the Treasure under both Presidents Jefferson and Madison, helped found New York University, was instrumental in the Louisiana Purchase, and was responsible for many improvements in the infrastructure such as roads within the United States.

Albert Gallatin left his home in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 19.  From that time on he was active in the development of the “new world”.  He seemed to never stop.

At the age of 69 he was asked to run as Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with William Crawford.  The letter that Albert Gallatin wrote to say that he would not run for this office was on display at the Exposition Gallatin in Geneva, Switzerland, as was a letter written to Albert Gallatin in 1806 by Thomas Jefferson.

Looking at these amazing artifacts, I remember wondering what virtual artifacts will be saved in cyber space from our lives today.

Bonnie Fatio

Amy Balderson and Bonnie Fatio

Filming for Legacy®

Your life story is an  important dimension of your age esteem.  Have you shared with others of all ages your values, experiences and lessons learned?  No two people live the same experience even though they may live the same event at the same moment.   This is why it is important to write your memoirs or record your story on audio or visual, or all three!  Each of us has a unique journey to share.

For a special project for Legacy® in Versoix, Switzerland I was asked if I would take part in filming that project.  Since I have donated my own story to Legacy®, I know the organization well and was pleased to accept.

Legacy® records and collects in-depth audiovisual interviews of the life stories of people who shape our world in order to preserve them for future generations. I believe strongly in the importance of capturing the stories of personalities alive today and to make these stories accessible to those who will never have an opportunity to meet them in person.   They become our virtual mentors.

Perhaps you will be contacted in the future to donate the story of your journey.  When this happens, I hope you will respond with a resounding age esteem, “Yes”.

P.S. Here are some extraordinary photos of Versoix where Legacy has its headquarters.

Bonnie Fatio

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.”

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

Look out, here I come!  This next weekend my 50th High School Class Reunion will take place in Grove City, PA (population 8027) and I will return to my teenage roots in small town USA.

Have 50 years really passed since we walked down the aisle to receive our diplomas?  So much has happened since then.  Will I recognize ‘old’ classmates?  Will they remember me?  I guess the only way to find out is to attend, so I’m on my way.  Chances are that I will even win the prize for coming the furthest, since most have remained closer to the town where we learned together.  Geneva, Switzerland will seem very far away to most.

I am convinced that it will be a wonderful experience to reconnect with old friends and to renew precious friendships.  And an opportunity to say “Thank you” to those who have left lasting imprints.

Bonnie Fatio

Helen Drew 59, English

When I hear the term Age Esteem I think of the value that older people can bring. – And that would be from the experience that they bring.  If I think personally I think in my life I’ve done many interesting and very different things, and the nice thing to do would be to pass that on to other people.  Of course we do pass them on to our children, which is actually quite difficult.  Often the children don’t appreciate your experience and they don’t really want to listen; but eventually they get to the age when they do.  I have constantly reinvented myself I think. Whatever I started out doing when I left University at 22, I’ve used that experience but I don’t do the same thing now.

Helen’s Tips: I’m very into what I eat and I eat very carefully.  I’ve trained myself to eat carefully.  I make sure I always do some exercise because you also feel better if you do exercise.  And when I get up in the morning I like to have the lot of my day planned out.  I like to know what I’m going to do.  That for me is my raison d’être, my purpose.

I like to think young but I like to look young as well.  I like to keep abreast of fashions.  When I was growing up in the UK the saying for ladies who dressed slightly younger than their age was “mutton dressed as lamb”.  I love to be a mutton dressed as a lamb and I enjoy people who are dressed a lot younger than they probably should be dressing.  Just because I am my age I will still occasionally wear high heeled shoes or platform shoes if I like it.  I will tailor my look for the fashion of that season and I will always buy new clothes every year.

There is always something new to learn and there is always something new you can be doing.  I’m training my mother who’s 81.  I just persuaded her to buy a laptop and I’m training her on how to use it.  She’s a bit nervous about it but we’ve got the email sussed (figured out) and while I was training her I thought, “Oh, I wonder, when I am 81 what will there be new for me to learn at that age?”  I think I will be up to learning it.

I was trained as a designer but didn’t paint for years.  It was only recently that I thought, “Well I’m not going to go down in history as a graphic designer or a trainer but maybe I can carve myself a small niche as a painter.”  I’ve taken on the new challenge of showing my paintings.  I’ve got three expositions coming up and I’ve just hired myself an agent which I think is a wonderful idea.  I hate selling my own work.  If someone else can do that for me I’ll be quite happy.

Helen Drew is a trainer, graphic designer and watercolorist.  Her exposition at the Gallery Chausse-Coqs in Geneva, Switzerland will take place December 5-23, 2010.