Parts and Repair Department Nika's Blog #3 Life Begins at Ninety

Daughter Alicia writes: My mother Nika was very athletic, skiing, skating, rowing, playing tennis until just a few years ago,and even now carries herself beautifully upright with elegance.  It is true she gets a bit wobbly, especially when she has to get out of the car and stand up.  Below her musings on replacing parts and hinges of her body, is a lovely painting that she did of a woman in a pink hat and gown whose knees are quite flexible.  Seemed like a good illustration for this installment. 
...and now I found a really incredible photo of Nika in her twenties showing off her amazing flexibility!


Inside my mind I feel the same as when I was 18... however, after 80 all the parts started to wear out.  I had a new knee, a new hip, and am trying to avoid shoulder joint replacement by doing physical therapy and enduring twice-yearly injections.  From the time I was about 65 until my mid-eighties I played violent tennis, yes, that is the right word, violent.  I'm paying for that now.  My right arm I cannot lift because of a birth injury, but nothing wrong with my left arm, so I played holding the racket with my left hand and had a mean serve, if I do say so myself.  After my husband died,during those years from my mid-sixties to my mid-eighties I lived with a companion who loved tennis.  We traveled all over the world, including to the Ice Palace at the north pole for my eightieth birthday.

I was the best patient at rehab because I wanted to get back to walking, exercising, and traveling. So if you need a new hip or knee, do your rehab exercises, and besides that you might meet interesting people.  I had both operations done in Palm Beach, and there were such fascinating people including a former opera singer. You can make very good friends in rehab, but you should stay in touch afterward.  Bill got a new knee the same time I did, and he ended up coming to Sedona to help me move in.  That was in 2008, when I sold the condo in Palm Beach and moved to Sedona, Arizona, to be near my daughter who serves as rabbi in that community.  Bill helped hang all my paintings and within just a few days it looked like I had lived there for years!   So even if my hinges are going, I think I keep going with my positive attitude.

Friend Anne Crosman read this posting and added: "Nika might mention that today, at age 94 -- she walks daily, sits in the hot tub daily, swims daily, and exercises daily while watching TV!"

 

 

                                                             Painting of pink lady by Nika

Nika so flexible, in her twenties!