photo from Olive Riley’s siteThis is not about my hometown, Munich, or expat life. I’m posting about a beautiful soul out of Australia. I’ll get back on track soon. It is rare that you get a perspective from, let alone read a blog written by, a woman born in October of 1899. Sadly, I only happened upon her words posthumously. Olive Riley past away last Saturday at the age of 108.

One of my mantras: Never let yourself die of boredom. I found these words in her post and I was hooked. I celebrate the fact that Olive continued to live and share her life until the very end. I’m so wowed. Her first post, recounting her visit with her great grandson and his two kids, is a riot. I found myself smiling and getting a bit choked up all the way through. So many people just give up on living once they get their invitation to AARP and get obsessed with reading the obituaries and the aches and pains that come with old age.

My contact with my grandparents has decreased over the years since my teens and conversations with them have been a growing struggle, at least for me. I have had so many questions but often times while growing up, I asked ones which struck the taboo chord. I learned to stop asking to avoid the pain I brought out. So there is this void. I’m saddened that I’ll miss the good stories locked in their memories. Like Olive talking about the time she decided to get false teeth at the age of 30! Maybe it wouldn’t fill the void but I’m thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if my grandparents started a blog?”