Louise Carroll: Getting to 90 takes a town
I am writing this column as I am floating along on Cloud Nine so it might be a bit disjointed.
I got on Cloud Nine when my family celebrated my 90th birthday with a party. Such a party I will never forget.
Being 90 is a surprise to me. When friends and I wonder how we got to be so old I don't have an answer so I looked it up on the web
"How to live to be 90."
They have some stuff about things like eating right, sleeping enough, etc. but I have my own idea. All my success, all my blessings I owe to God and the wonderful family, friends and community who give me so much love and caring.
We've all heard the expression 'It takes a village to raise a child' and I tell you it takes a wonderful town like Ellwood City to give an older citizen an extraordinary quality of life.
It is a privilege to be a part of a caring community that provides so many opportunities for fun, fellowship and education. I am blessed to live in a community that honors its past and focuses on the future. When I say community, I mean Ellwood City, Ellport and Wampum. They are the special small places that are part of our area.
Louise Carroll honored: Ledger writer Louise Carroll honored
I've lived in a couple of states and other different places but I'm so glad I came back to Ellwood when I had children to raise. I'm an Ellwood City small-town person and it makes me feel good to be here.
I am grateful to be in a place where I can be myself, surrounded by people I care about and who care about me. I embrace the feeling of being included.
I've always been a Willy Nelson fan even back when he wore a three-piece suit and wasn't really big in the Nashville scene. One of my favorite songs is Willy's "On the Road Again" and since I love to travel it is my theme song. When Women's Network had a magnificent party for me a week before the big shindig Tony Barge came and sang "On the Road Again" and he has singing it for me for many years which is another thing I like about small towns.
Willie and I were both born on April 26, 1933, which was a Wednesday and you know Wednesday child is full of woe. Right now I have no woe.
I don't know if it is because Willy and I were born the same day or just the aging process, but Willie and I are starting to look alike. By the time we are 95, you will only be able to tell us apart because Willie is the one with the long braid and guitar.
One of my other favorite songs is "I'll Fly Away," an old Bluegrass hymn. That's the one when I tell everyone that I sang with Bill Monroe. I did. At a Bluegrass festival with 8,000 other people but I did. It brings tears to my eyes when they sing it in church.
I am grateful to live in Ellwood City. I thank God, my family and my friends that I can enjoy life. I want to say something special to those who are a part of my life.
Ann Weems wrote the perfect words I want to say to all of you.
"If I could, I would pray for you a rainbow, and splash it with the colors of God, and hang it in the window of your being,
so that each new God's morning your eyes would open first to hope and promise.
If I could, I wipe away your tears, and hold you close forever in shalom,
but God never promised I could write a rainbow, never promised I could suffer for you,
only promised I could love you. That I do."
Of course, I realize being 90 is nothing unusual. Our nation's 90 and older population has nearly tripled over the past three decades, In 2010, there were 1.9 million 90-year-olds. by May 2016, it quadrupled. Who knows how many of us there are today?
I know I'm not unusual, but I am grateful to be 90 in the best place I could be.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Carroll: Getting to 90 takes a town
