MY THIRD ACT

Destination: Old Age

BY PRISCILLA LONG

In old age we need to develop cognitively. To begin with, you must believe you can learn.

I am in shock. In five months I turn 80—I, who thought I would never live past 30. Still, I find myself rather pleased to be venturing into the country of old age. And what better way to bone up on a new destination than to write a book on it. My new book, Dancing with the Muse in Old Age, is just out. In researching it, I discovered so very many vibrant, amazing elders—many, though not all, active in the arts. As I navigate this new territory, they are my guides.

I once thought old age was about sitting around remembering. How ridiculous! Yes, we remember, at times vividly. But we also have goals—my main goal for the next 20 years is to write 10 more books. And we are exercising more—or know we ought to. (I have bonded with my Fitbit.) And we know to reduce stress. Check. Connect with others. Check. Eat vegetables. Check.

But the most mind-blowing thing I’ve learned has to do with learning— for brain heath, for entertainment, for connection with others. We now know how plastic the brain is, that the hippocampus, that body part essential for memory, can produce new neurons (brain cells), and grow thicker. We know that every time we learn something new, our brain adds to its zillions of connections. And we also know that the brain is plastic the other way—lack of use causes neuron death, brain shrinkage.

The researcher Rachel Wu and her team at CALLA (Cognitive Agility Across the Lifespan via Learning and Attention) have added a new twist to the need to keep learning in old age. It’s less about maintenance, more about cognitive development. Most middle-aged folks, however brilliant and high-functioning, are not learning much. They have become increasingly specialized, relying on experience and past learning. In middle age this is likely good enough, thank you very much. We are busy holding down a job, raising kids, getting the car fixed.

But cognitive development, Wu and her team have discovered, works in the elderly exactly as it does in children. To begin with, you must believe you can learn. To paraphrase the cosmetics entrepreneur Mary Kay Ash, if you believe you are too old to learn, you are right. It’s important to get input from the environment rather than drawing on past knowledge. This is about learning something new. It’s important to learn within a supportive environment, to see mistakes as part of learning. It’s important to learn in small steps, mastering one before

proceeding to the next. It’s important to persist, to keep going when the going gets tough. And finally, Wu and her team advocate learning several things at once, as children and college students do.

Now, what has this got to do with me? It’s true that when I write a new piece or book I learn stuff, but isn’t this the kind of learning I’ve always done? In terms of my brain, how does learning about the history of writing differ from learning about the biology of salmon (considering two of my recent pieces)? I don’t know the answer, but I do already know how to research a piece.

So, what would steer my brain into truly exotic territory? The answer is obvious—math!

Here’s a subject about which I know zilch. Okay, I can count. I can even make change, which you do by counting up from the price to the amount handed over, which our father taught us children to do so we could go door to door selling strawberries. Beyond that, I struggled with math.

Fast forward a few decades. In my mid-40s I began studying for the GRE in the process of applying to MFA programs in creative writing. And here comes math, my nemesis, back to haunt me. I studied and studied. Within a month I had advanced from the second grade to the fifth grade—pretty good! —though I doubted an admissions committee would think so. Then the worst happened. I arrived at the test an hour late. So poorly do I perceive numbers that I read 12:10 as 1:12. I was heartbroken, my dream of entering an MFA program dashed. The application deadline preceded the next GRE test opportunity.

Three weeks later, with no GRE score, I received an acceptance letter. Saved!

Three more decades have passed. Could I now actually learn math? I think of the Italian nonagenarian, Giuseppe Paterno. Growing up, Giuseppe loved to read, but life did not afford him an education past the eighth grade. He married, helped raise two children, and worked as a surveyor for the Italian railroad. At age 93 he entered college, but, within days, had serious doubts. Everyone else was so much younger! A dean encouraged him and before long he just blended in. At age 97, he graduated in history and philosophy at the top of his class. He said, “My time at university has changed me for certain. It’s as if my brain has evolved. I’ve started to speak a different language. If I’m discussing the newspaper with my friends, I can articulate myself with greater precision… .”

So, it can be done. And if it can be done, perhaps I can do it. I have obtained a math book for innumerate adults.

Priscilla Long has an MFA from the University of Washington. Author of seven books to date, she is a poet, science writer, and writer of creative nonfictions as well as fiction. A longtime independent teacher of writing, her how-to-write book is The Writer’s Portable Mentor. Her most recent book is Dancing with the Muse in Old Age (Epicenter/Coffeetown Press).

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TRAVEL DURING TURBULENT TIMES Once vaccinated, I had two non-negotiables for travel in the time of COVID—minimize exposure by venturing to locales with low infection rates, plenty of DIY outdoor activities, self-catering accommodations, and easy access to testing and medical care. In short, replicate my successful home precautions. And the second: A contingency plan if I (or my travel companion) tested positive while on the trip. My maiden venture, a March 2021 road trip exploring New Mexico’s archaeological sites, was so successful that seven months later I went further afield to central Mexico because their COVID practices and precautions exceed even Washington’s. Everyone

TRAVEL DURING BY ANN RANDALL TURBULENT TIMES masked up whether inside or out, businesses and attractions checked temperatures upon entry, and tourism was nearly non-existent. A year later after booking a UK trip featuring rural days of hiking while staying in self-catering cottages, I was unexpectedly faced with the worldwide rush to normal. The UK suddenly rescinded its indoor mask requirement. Tour buses began unloading day-trippers into villages on my itinerary and accommodations— nearly empty when I’d reserved—were now fully booked. When I returned to the U.S. in May, air travel had become a mayhem of flight cancellations, lost luggage, and crowds. Along with hundreds of other passengers I was herded down overcrowded hallways to clear Chicago O’Hare’s understaffed passport control. Five days later, I tested positive for COVID. Meanwhile, my social media has been filled with updates from retired Puget Sound area friends. Their long-delayed trips finally realized. Curious, I asked how they made their own risk-benefit travel calculation and found they had a lot in common when it came to personal responsibility, risk tolerance, and flexibility.

“We have a limited number of years when we’ll be healthy enough to travel independently and COVID erased two years of that from our lives,” Rod Regan and Margaret Knight explained. “We believe in science, so the vaccines and boosters gave us some confidence that we’d be safe traveling in Spain and Portugal.”

Still, they didn’t roam carte blanche this past spring. “Even though the mask requirement had been lifted or was not being enforced, we masked up indoors and ate outside whenever possible.”

Despite their precautions, Knight tested positive in Portugal. “We had to change our plans and didn’t go everywhere we intended, which was disappointing,” she wrote. “My main concern was that I’d get COVID again or have ongoing symptoms triggering positive tests so I couldn’t fly home.”

Mary Lindquist and Peter Bogdanoff didn’t change their destination because their COVID-delayed plans felt safe. “We hiked the Minster Way in England and patted ourselves on the back that for that week we would be safely outside and largely alone,” they explained.

But the pandemic factored into their daily logistics. “We minimized the risks by renting a car for two weeks in Ireland and accepted that when we took plane and train rides, used the London Tube, or shopped at grocery stores, it would be risky even wearing masks. We avoided crowded restaurants, museums, and other indoor sights, except in Dingle when we simply had to crowd into pubs to see the Irish national fast dancer champion and listen to some traditional music.”

For Lynn and Irving Baugh, there was comfort in having a tour company handle some of the COVID logistics and safety. They’d planned tours to five countries, all postponed until 2022. “The companies sent regular updates regarding COVID requirements and protocols before our trips,” they wrote. “We were required to mask up on tour buses. We tried to keep social distances when outside and used hand wipes and sanitizer frequently. Four members on one of our tours tested positive, so then we tested daily with home test kits.”

The couple also did their own research and were prepared to pivot. “We monitored the cases, country vaccination rates, State Department bulletins, and available medical care in case we were forced to quarantine. Our health care providers encouraged us to have adequate travel insurance because we have underlying health conditions. This fall we’ve planned a cruise to South America and are concerned about cruise ship outbreaks cases. We’ll postpone the trip if we feel unsafe.”

By December 2021, Peg Garrison felt she could safely cruise again with ship protocols and her own precautions in place. “I had a lot of credit from COVID-cancelled cruises, so I chose one down the Mexican Riviera from San Diego because it required a shorter roundtrip flight from Seattle,” she said after her return. “All cruise passengers had to present a negative test prior to boarding and wear appropriate masks while moving inside “WE HAVE A the ship. Even in the LIMITED NUMBER dining room everyone OF YEARS wore a mask and then took them off when WHEN WE’LL BE seated. I splurged for HEALTHY ENOUGH a balcony so if there TO TRAVEL was a breakout and we were relegated to our INDEPENDENTLY staterooms, I could AND COVID ERASED get outside. I also TWO YEARS OF didn’t disembark at one port that felt too THAT FROM OUR crowded.” LIVES.” My intrepid friends all have upcoming 2022 travel plans (as do I) and offer this additional advice: • Given the way airplanes and public transportation jam people together, be fully vaccinated and boosted. • Research and make educated decisions about where and how to travel, then do your own riskbenefit analysis. • Slow down and stay put if you feel sick. • Be flexible. Tourist-related businesses are still recovering. • But do travel. You don’t have as much time left as you think!

This advice is good guidance even in nonturbulent times.

Ann Randall is a freelance writer, organizational consultant, and independent traveler who loves venturing to out-of-the-way locales, from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe. Retired from a career as a teacher and union organizer in public education, she now observes international elections, does volunteer work in India, and writes regularly for 3rd Act, Northwest Travel & Life, West Sound Home & Garden, Fibre Focus, and Dutch the Magazine.