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Blog archive

May 2025

April 2025

March 2025

About Senior Solutions
03/28/2025

Building a Bridge With Journey House, A Home Base for Former Foster Youth
03/28/2025

Come for the Knitting, Stay for the Conversation... and the Cookies
03/28/2025

Creating Safe and Smart Spaces with Home Technology
03/28/2025

Finding Joy in My Role on The Pasadena Village Board
03/28/2025

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
03/28/2025

Managing Anxiety
03/28/2025

Message from Our President: Keeping Pasadena Village Strong Together
03/28/2025

My Favorite Easter Gift
03/28/2025

The Hidden History of Black Women in WWII
03/28/2025

Urinary Tract Infection – Watch Out!
03/28/2025

Volunteer Coordinator and Blade-Runner
03/28/2025

Continuing Commitment to Combating Racism
03/26/2025

Goodbye and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
03/13/2025

What The Living Do by Marie Howe
03/13/2025

Racism is Not Genetic
03/11/2025

Bill Gould, The First
03/07/2025

THIS IS A CHAPTER, NOT MY WHOLE STORY
03/07/2025

Dramatic Flair: Villagers Share their Digital Art
03/03/2025

Empowering Senior LGBTQ+ Caregivers
03/03/2025

A Life Never Anticipated
03/02/2025

Eaton Fire Changes Life
03/02/2025

February 2025

Commemorating Black History Month 2025
02/28/2025

Transportation at the Pasadena Village
02/28/2025

A Look at Proposition 19
02/27/2025

Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Pasadena Village Board and Its Role
02/27/2025

Beyond and Within the Village: The Power of One
02/27/2025

Celebrating Black Voices
02/27/2025

Creatively Supporting Our Village Community
02/27/2025

Decluttering: More Than The Name Implies
02/27/2025

Hidden Gems of Forest Lawn Museum
02/27/2025

LA River Walk
02/27/2025

Message from the President
02/27/2025

Phoenix Rising
02/27/2025

1619 Conversations with West African Art
02/25/2025

The Party Line
02/24/2025

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
02/17/2025

Dreams by Langston Hughes
02/17/2025

Haiku - Four by Fritzie
02/17/2025

Haikus - Nine by Virginia
02/17/2025

Wind and Fire
02/17/2025

Partnerships Amplify Relief Efforts
02/07/2025

Another Community Giving Back
02/05/2025

Diary of Disaster Response
02/05/2025

Eaton Fire: A Community United in Loss and Recovery
02/05/2025

Healing Powers of Creative Energy
02/05/2025

Living the Mission
02/05/2025

Message from the President: Honoring Black History Month
02/05/2025

Surviving and Thriving: Elder Health Considerations After the Fires
02/05/2025

Treasure Hunting in The Ashes
02/05/2025

Villager's Stories
02/05/2025

A Beginning of Healing
02/03/2025

Hectic Evacuation From Eaton Canyon Fire
02/02/2025

Hurricanes and Fires are Different Monsters
02/02/2025

January 2025

Old/Bold

By Sally Asmundson
Posted: 12/21/2020
Tags:
When I was about 50 I wrote a poem, Old. I was both sure I would die by 60 (many people close to me had died young, my father at 46) but even surer that I didn’t want to live my stereotyped vision of old. Even then I probably knew I wouldn’t have a real choice. 
I am now 80, learning how to be old, and have revisited my poem and written a companion, Old Again.
Because most of you, like me, are now old I wanted to share both with all my Pasadena Village friends.



Old

I don't want to grow old
I want to die suddenly,
while still in my prime.

Oh fool am I, I'm just afraid
Yes, afraid

Afraid of the old, no one listens
no one to touch to hold
can't pick up the suitcase remember where the keys are
climb a mountain drive a car
see the stars
did you call today?
OLD
WEAK
OLD

BOLD !

Will I find the courage to love me
old?

BE BOLD !

Sally J. Asmundson, about 1990



Old Again

I didn’t die while still in my prime

Here I am at 80, still alive and
proud to be old

I’m still afraid of all the things I feared at 50

BUT

I am still listened to and if I don’t have someone to hold today
it’s not because of age and loss
I can still pick up the suitcase remember where the keys are drive a car,
even slowly climb a mountain see the stars
learn new things make new friends

YES

You did call today and while I’m OLD I’m not yet weak
Even stronger in some ways
I am BOLD and learning to love myself more everyday
ALIVE, AWARE, ENGAGED, READY!



Sally Asmundson
December 20, 2020

Note that Sally has clearly redefined aging in her own life. Her stereotype of aging when she was 50 is no longer how she thinks of this period of her life. Here is a different kind of description of what it means to redefine aging.

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