Hurricane Hawkins and Magic Moments

On February 10, 2022, Hurricane Hawkins turned 106. A year ago at 105, she set a world record for sprinting for people in her age category. Frankly, I am astonished that there are people in her age category sprinting at all! Ms. Hawkins has been a lifelong athlete and before she took up sprinting, she bicycled. She looks really good too. I have seen pictures of centenarians and they looked frightening, Jeanne Calumet, for example, the oldest woman in the world before her death, I believe in France. The oldest 'documented' person in the world, she was what was termed a 'wupercentenarian' who died in 1997 at age 122.

Last night I watched an episode about long life in a series called Explained, where they talk at length about topics of interest and they (the narrators and interviewees) said the cut-off for humans is 120. There was a lot of information about telomeres and genetic mutations that accumulate over time, I can't remember it all, but I know from personal eperience both my own, and that of my friends who are my age, that whatever we do, we all wear out. In fact, there was a little graphic that showed what wears out on most if not all of us, our hearing diminshes, our eyesight, our muscles weaken, we get high blood pressure, and decreased mental acuity. So given all that, one wonders why anyone would want to live to 100, let alone 120, but if you could live like Hurricane Hawkins, maybe it would be good. I don't know how she fares off the track, they didn't go into that very much, but I do remember something a friend of mine who was 90 said - "At my age, everyone you've ever cared about it dead." It was mentioned that Ms. Hawkins had children and grandchildren, so people she cares about are still living. My friend, Marguerite, a fellow volunteer at Gloucester County Historical Society for some time (she was there for years, I was there for months) was still mobile and had her mental bilities, but she died of cancer. She had never had children and she was widowed and everyone in her family had died except a niece with whom Marguerite didn't have close or positive relationship. The niece borrowed money and didn't pay it back.

Anyhow, one of the things Ms. Hawkins mentioned was the enjoyment of what she called Magic Moments. One of her examples was the enjoyment of a particularly beautiful sunrise. For some reason, this made me remember a bonfire in the woods at Ridley Park in Pennsylvania at ngiht in the spring. A group of poets I knew met there once or twice a year and spoke or sang their poetry at the camp fire. That was magical, especially one night when a youngish man sang a Scots ballad in Scots dialect in a clear and beautiful voice. It was deeply moving, perhaps especially so because I have branch of family ancestry from Scotland adn the bagpipes and Scots music and poetry has always touched me. Another Magic Moment before I leave the Scots - I was pulling out of the driveway at my bank one day and a man dressed in full Tartan regalia was marching alone around St. Mary's Church playing the bagpipes. It was sos solemn and beautiful, I was transfixed. I learned later that he was a local policeman and was playing for a funeral that hadn't arrived yet.

I found the story of Hurricane Hawwkins very inspiring. It was when I was driving to meet a friend for lunch yesterday, that I heard it on on the radio on NPR. When I got home, I looked her up and I was struck by her forward momentum in life, not just the sprinting, but the energy to try something new, to keep on going. Needless to say, we can't all be like her. She has some rare genetic gift, but she can be a lighthouse for the rest of us poor voyagers! Happy Birthday Hurricane Hawkins and thank you for reminding me to look for the Magic Moments!

Happy Trails! Jo Ann