Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/1209300
1. Stop feeling bad about being divorced. My marriage failed; I didn't. 2. Ignore TV commercials promising to erase lines, whittle my waist or transform me in any other way so I no longer look my age. It took me a long time to learn to accept my flaws, which reveal who I really am and how I've lived. 3. Boycott bottled water. 4. Try to make due with my 20 amp electric furnace operating on just 15 amps, remembering that I'm getting by with 25% less energy as well. 5. Accept that I used to be 5-foot 2, but now I'm barely 5 feet. Clearly, life is grinding me down. 6. Avoid high heels, Spanx and anything that zips up the back. 7. Give away my recipe collection. 8. Resign myself to having thin, sparse hair, no longer wasting money on volumizing shampoos, conditioners and other treatments. If men aren't ashamed to appear in public with very little hair, why should women be? Looking Back Celebrate events, people and places from Latin's history with a visit to the school's archives. "Kick the Bucket" My List BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM TAUGHT ENGLISH IN LATIN'S UPPER SCHOOL FROM 1961-67. I never had a bucket list. As I think back, I realize there were several things that could have qualified. I rode an elephant. I played "12th Street Rag" in a piano and organ duet with my late mother. I visited the remote Canadian Sandy Lake First Nation in 1975, staying in a house with no electricity or running water, at a time when non-native visitors stayed at the nursing station. I never dreamed that an old friend's bucket list would lead him to finally find me after a long search, 50 years after we were last in touch. Although we live 3,000 miles apart and neither of us is well enough to travel, he phones every month and stays in touch via email. But now that I'm over 80, I have a "Kick the Bucket" list. BY BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM 50 LOOKING BACK 50