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6 Keys to Living a Long Life (from a 90 year old!)

ByKelly Stilwell Hours Posted on
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If you have ever wondered what the keys are to living a long life, let me share this story with you.

I recently traveled to North Carolina to spend a few days with my mother-in-law for her 90th birthday. 

Living a Long Life

I know some women would prefer not to spend time with their husband’s mother. All I can say is that I’m sorry they don’t have a woman like this in their lives. 

She had five children (all boys) after she was told she would not have any. One of her sons died when he was in his early twenties. This woman survived colon cancer before we had the advances we have now. She was married to the same man for 62 years. 

90 year old

A few years after she lost the love of her life, she moved from the small town she had lived in for most of her life down to North Carolina to live near my husband’s oldest brother and his wife.

90 year old
Mom Mom & Pop Pop at their 50th Anniversary

Can you imagine? She left all her friends. So many great memories were in that house.

90 year old
Dancing in front of their garage.

 

The home she had raised her boys in. It was really hard for her, but she knew she needed a change, so she stepped up and did it.
90 year old
Mom Mom with her four boys
And another chapter begins. She bought a little house on a lake. She now has so many friends that half the time I’m leaving messages because she’s out. Dancing. Painting. Walking her dog at least 3 miles every day. 
90 year old
Mom Mom and Maggie
She’s out boating or t a friend’s having cocktails. Mom Mom loves spending time with her six great-grandchildren.
This woman has been in the newspaper more times than I can count. She’s even been asked to be in fashion shows, and the last time, a journalist asked if she could write a story about her life. It was a full page. A full page of a very full life who knows the keys to living a long life.
90 year old
Mom Mom at a western dance, on the front page of the paper.
Mom Mom is practically a star in the neighborhood. She says it’s because everyone loves Maggie, her black lab. I know otherwise. You don’t meet this woman and forget her. She is…unforgettable. Just look at her with my girls when they were little. What a grandma!
90 year old
My girls still dance with her! Isn’t this precious?

90 year old

 

That is love!

 

90 year old

So, I decided to ask her to tell me her top five tips for how she does it. I hope you enjoy her answers. I think we can all learn from them.

6 Keys to Living a Long Life

Faith in God

Being able to turn things over to God. I don’t know how people can handle life if they can’t give their problems to God.

Outlook on life.

I have a very positive outlook on life.

Walk

I walk 3 miles almost every day.


Eat Healthy Foods

From Mom Mom: I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and fish, and very few processed foods, and very few frozen foods. I also take vitamin E, D (with red yeast rice) and Tums! My doctor said they are a good source of calcium.  (I can tell you that she usually has a glass of white wine with dinner, as well as a martini when she feels like it.)


Sense of humor

I laugh at myself!  Oh, the things I do! If you can’t laugh about it you would just worry about it.


 Get a dog!

My dog keeps my spirits up. If I feel down, she knows it.

Mom said not to forget family and friends. She has my husband’s oldest brother and his wife right around the corner. They have been there for her anytime she needed anything, and what a blessing they are.

She also has Terry, a close friend who she met when she moved to NC. Terry also lost her husband a few years ago. Both men are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Mom says Terry was sent by God to her. I believe it.

Mom doesn’t get online. That’s one of the things we just can’t get her to try! Maybe my brother-in-law will show this to her.

Mom Mom, if you are reading this, I just want you to know, you totally ROCK! I love you!

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38 Comments

  2. What great life lessons. However I hate that everything always links back to eating more veggies! Happy SITS day.

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  3. Such a good way to pay tribute to mom-in-law. This is really living a life. Not just merely existing on earth, after retirement. I’m staying with my mom-in-law(she moved in), she is a very helpful lady. Maybe some day I might write about her on my blog too. I’m enlightened by you, Kelly.

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  5. What a wonderful tribute to your mother-in-law. I also have an awesome mother-in-law. I’m going to take note of her advice!

    Happy SITS Day!

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  6. Thanks for sharing your mother-in-law with the world. She’s very alive. More alive than a lot of people younger than her. Staying active is the way. My grandfather was putting a roof on his barn at 98.

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  7. What a beautiful person she sounds like. How blessed you are to have her in your life. Thanks for sharing her with us.

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  8. What a sweet tribute to your mother in law! And a great list for us all to follow. I second her #1 … without God, I think I would be lost on a daily basis to stress, worry, fear and doubt. The rest of life seems much more manageable with Someone to depend upon. Thanks for sharing this snapshot this precious woman with us!

    Enjoy your SITS day! 🙂

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  9. Congratulations on your SITS day! And, I love this post. It reminds me of my Great Grandma Alverna. She was 92 when she passed away. Good, solid Swedish stock…or so she called herself. Ate oatmeal every morning, was a writer for 60 years, mother to 7 children…2 of them twins, painter…the list is too long for this section really. But if you asked her the same questions you asked your Mom, Mom… They would be the same and in the same order.

    Thanks so much for sharing! =)

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  10. Love this! I love that she walks 3 miles a day – I can’t even do this! I love her outlook on life. What a wonderful person to have in your family!

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  14. Kelly, what an amazing woman your MIL is! I hope when I grow up I’ll be like her! 😉 Thank you for sharing a great little peek into your MIL’s life, and reminding me to live life more fully! 🙂

    Reply

  16. What a great story! Kudos to such an amazing woman and I agree..it has NOTHING to do with Maggie and everything to do with her amazing soul!

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  17. they say that youth is wasted on the young… such wise words from what seems to be an amazing woman!

    Reply