{"id":46416,"date":"2025-09-06T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T07:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=46416"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:13:15","slug":"living-to-100-and-then-some","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/living-to-100-and-then-some\/","title":{"rendered":"Living to 100 — And Then Some"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Living<\/a>
Living to 100 — and then some: My paternal grandmother, Ruth Falconer, lived to within a few weeks of her 100th birthday. My grandfather, David Falconer, did not; but that didn’t stop me from making my plans. Barbara Newhall photo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My original plan — first hatched in my 20s when I was young and fresh and full of big ideas — was to live to 100.<\/p>\n

My grandmother was in her late nineties at the time. She was making good headway toward her hundredth birthday (which she ultimately missed by only a few weeks). If my grandmother could to make it to 100, I thought, so could I.<\/p>\n

And Decades to Go Before I Sleep<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Living to 100 meant there would be plenty of time for all the things I wanted to do and have: husband, children, career, house, a garden maybe.<\/p>\n

The live-to-100 plan worked swimmingly for years. I took to visualizing my life in decades: 70 years left to live, 60, 50, 40, 30 and then, most recently, 20.<\/p>\n

But now, here I am today, turning 84. My final decade will be coming up any minute. I can see the whites of its eyes.<\/p>\n

This is a problem. Dying is bad enough. Dying without checking off the biggies on my to-list is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Acceptance — that’s the key word here.<\/p>\n

The Zen of Acceptance<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I’ve been working hard on accepting the news that — like Jon — I’m going to die one of these days. There’s a nice Zen-y feeling to tending to that part of my psyche.<\/p>\n

What I’m not so good at, what I’m not ready to accept is — not getting everything done that I want to get done.<\/p>\n

\"Living<\/a>
One big project fully completed<\/a> — replacing the failing backyard retaining walls before they succumbed to gravity and slid down the hill. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And so, for now, I’m sticking by my to-do list. I’m embracing it. I’m going to get everything on it done or die trying.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some items from the list:<\/p>\n