The other day I was informed that Marcia, an old gal I knew when I worked in Boston, just celebrated her 99th birthday. This made my day. Marcia is one of the sweetest people to walk the earth. The organization I worked for offered vacation sessions for elderly. Many of the vacations take place at a beautiful, giant farmhouse located a couple hours outside of Chicago. Most of the elderly that attend vacations there are from Chicago but when there are spots open, people from other chapters are invited to go. Some spots were open and Marcia and I signed up. She was a mere 92 at the time.

Because Marcia is blind, and was 92, I tried to get seats at the front of the plane. The flight attendant said there was no way she could get us a seat up front. Thankfully, Marcia is the most easygoing person I've ever met. We walked to our seat in Row 29, and by walk, I mean that I scrambled along backwards down the aisle while holding Marcia's hands and coaching her through it. "Doing great, Marcia! This is some adventure, huh!?"

Marcia said in her always chipper tone, "Oh my, Mary! AND HOW! We sure are going far! This is somethin else!"

We finally got settled in our seats and I wowed Marcia by showing her the headphones and the controls to switch the station. She was happily listening to a jazz station, when the flight attendant stopped at our row and said to me, "Oh, she's so sweet! Is that your mom?"

I stared at her, not knowing just how to respond. Not only is Marcia 65 years older than me, she's African American and I'm Caucasian. Of course anything is possible but nothing about looking at the two of us should've led people to believe "mother-daughter combo." I just said, "Nope. Marcia is my pal!" I smiled and then screamed in Marcia's ear, "ENJOYING THE MUSIC?"

"Oh, and how, Mary! We are having quite a time, aren't we, Mary!?" The flight attendant looked completely confused.

Our vacation was fantastic. We met all sorts of nice folks, including the amazing duo of Alvin and Edward who were pretty much real-life versions of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets. Alvin had some digestion issues, so he was frequently demanding more "thickener" for his drinks. Edward, who was all business, liked to give Alvin crap for this. I ate lunch with them one afternoon and they got into one of their usual thickener arguments. Then, out of nowhere, Alvin said, "Did you know that Edward says he can have sex without Viagra!?"

Edward: I CAN!

Alvin: I don't

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