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姐妹們88歲時想做什麽,會去學跆拳道麽?

(2017-04-04 21:15:02) 下一個
最近有幸結識一對老夫婦。九十二歲的老先生,精神樣貌看起來仿佛七十多歲,絲毫沒有老態龍鍾。老太太八十九歲,行動稍有不便,但每次見到她都是手不釋卷。後來知道,老太太的母親98歲去世。當時想這一家人太有長壽基因了,誰知卻讓我知曉了一個超勵誌的故事。
 
他們家進門處,牆上掛了不少的木質和銅質的獎牌。那塊最厚重的獎牌上麵刻的字最多,湊過去,一行行細細讀完後,感覺太激勵人心了!獎牌是Illinois州政府授給Lucille的一個紀錄獎牌,她是老太太的母親。Lucille身高隻有一米五,在自己88歲時才開始學習跆拳道,90歲竟然就拿到了黑帶級別,是第一位破九十歲紀錄的超級老太太。
 
這樣給人鼓舞令人振奮的故事不應該埋在故紙堆裏,應該拿出來時常翻一翻,給後來人以鼓勵。我在網上搜到有關她的幾則消息,真的太感恩了。願意和各位姐妹分享我的所得。
 
以下鏈接是1986年 Chicago Tribune和People 對Lucille的介紹。
1. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-05-14/news/8602030762_1_james-thompson-tae-kwon-do-older-americans-month
2. http://people.com/archive/black-belt-granny-lucille-thompson-is-alive-and-kicking-at-90-vol-25-no-23/
 
為了方便,我把People雜誌的原文複製在這裏,大家可以直接讀。
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Black Belt Granny Lucille Thompson Is Alive and Kicking at 90
Posted on June 9, 1986
 
Two years ago Lucille Thompson was just another 88-year-old great-grandmother with time on her hands and arthritis in her fingers. The twice-widowed former speech writer was looking for a way to get more physical exercise when a couple of things happened that changed her life dramatically: Two elderly women were murdered in her Danville, Ill. neighborhood, and on a visit to the local senior center she saw her first demonstration of tae kwon do the Korean version of karate The next day Thompson presented herself at a nearby tae kwon do academy.
 
Her family’s reaction was mixed. While her eldest daughter and all seven of her grandchildren were "tickled,”her youngest daughter, 55, with whom she was living at the time, "tightened her jaws,”Thompson remembers. People thought I was nuts,”she says. ”You're the ones who are nuts, " I told  them. "You're gonna get older while I get younger.’ ”
 
Born in Iowa, the daughter of a Methodist minister, Thompson had a proper Victorian upbringing and “was never encouraged to do anything athletic.” At 4’11” and 109 pounds when she signed on for martial arts she was hardly an imposing specimen. “At first when she kicked,” says her teacher, Master Min Kyo Han, 49, “I had to support her.” In a remarkable 20 months, the gray-haired granny earned a black belt—making her the oldest person ever to achieve one in tae kwon do—and a nickname: “Killer.”

Thompson walks the streets without fear now. Her fingers are nimble and her back, which was beginning to hunch over, is as straight as a flagpole. A few months ago Thompson moved into a senior citizens’ apartment complex located two blocks from the academy. Now a media darling who has broken up objects and audiences on programs like The Tonight Show, Thompson has even added name-dropping to her impressive Oriental arsenal. “Johnny Carson’s very gentle,” she reveals, “but when I yelled he really jumped.”

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評論
菲兒天地 回複 悄悄話 回複 '蓮盆籽' 的評論 : +1哇,老太太太厲害了!
蓮盆籽 回複 悄悄話 祝臘梅母親節快樂!
臘梅lamei 回複 悄悄話 回複 '蓮盆籽' 的評論 : 謝謝蓮籽姐!有不服老的積極人生態度才有可能打破年齡約束,創造紀錄和奇跡。

我最喜歡這句“You're gonna get older while I get younger”, 哈哈哈!
蓮盆籽 回複 悄悄話 哈哈,老太太真可愛!
積極進取的心態,也是長壽的一個原因吧?
問好臘梅!
臘梅lamei 回複 悄悄話 回複 'changchunhua' 的評論 : 看到他們步入耄耋之年還精神十足,聲音洪亮,是很受感染的。
changchunhua 回複 悄悄話 今天在健身房裏遇上了位93歲的白先生在自行車組飆車(spinning)。
身材挺拔,精悍,口齒還有些伶俐。估計年輕時當過兵。
臘梅lamei 回複 悄悄話 回複 '為寫而寫' 的評論 : 我自己是很激動,很受鼓舞,所以希望有更多的人看到。當然很重要的是,如何把這些念頭和想法轉化成實際行動。
臘梅lamei 回複 悄悄話 回複 '思韻如藍' 的評論 : 謝謝思韻姐!

能不斷突破自己,持續保持旺盛生命力,我想是每個人內心裏都極其渴望的。
為寫而寫 回複 悄悄話 真是非常勵誌!
思韻如藍 回複 悄悄話 我第一個給臘梅妹妹點讚!我現在最喜歡的主題就是"越活越蓬勃"。老人創造奇跡的故事特別激勵,嗯,我的路也還長哪!
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