26 March was Anita’s 103rd birthday! (Long time Capital Hill resident)

When I finished polishing off the huge slice of chocolate cake, which Anita had forced on me, I asked her if I could take a few snaps of her enjoying her birthday celebration.
She embraced the idea asking everyone around her to join in to mug for the “camera.”
After way too much people organizing she gave me the okay to shoot.
I took a few; stalling for the moment I could get one of her alone.

When I showed her the shots she asked me if she could have the roll of film so she could make prints. “My grandson can take it to the drugstore to print copies.”
For a brief moment I considered explaining that my phone didn’t use film.
I gave up the idea when I spotted that little cloud beginning to creep up on her eyes.

I couldn’t help thinking of the time I took Polaroid photos of tribesmen in northern Uzbekistan. When I showed them the pictures we all went silent in recognition of the impossibility of any of us understanding how the picture had materialized in front of us in mere seconds.

When Anita asked me to let her borrow the role of film from of my iPhone I knew I had to look into some of the events that spanned her life in order to integrate the vastness she has experienced.

When she was born the universe was static, bacteria had yet to be discovered, Einstein was preparing to dazzle us with his insights.
No one was tuning into Amos n’ Andy to get their weekly laughs at the expense of racial serotypes portrayed on early radio.
Jack Johnson would soon rock that tranquility.
The White Fleet had not shown their colors yet, Peary was packing to head off to find the North Pole, and Alice Ramsey was getting ready to be the first woman to drive her Maxwell the 3,800 miles from Manhattan to San Francisco.
The world was more mystery and magic than the hard reality that our science offers us today.

At 103 Anita has seen it all.

Imagine fast forwarding to 103 in your life!
Did you stop to enjoy those moments or race on looking for what was just over the next hill?

Enjoy your run, as it is truly shorter than you think…