IRIS APFEL
My business is living.
My business is living. Being active keeps my head together.
I get up in the morning and know I'm here. That
gives me great pleasure. Carl and I used to say, “We don’t want to be with
people of our vintage. They’re too old.” We never
considered ourselves old, which is ridiculous. But we
were never garden-variety old people.
I don't do things in terms of a legacy. When
people ask what I'd like my legacy to be, I don't
even want to talk about it, or think about it. What
it will be, it will be.
I have never had a life plan. I've never had a business
plan. I never expected to be where I am now. I never
expected to be doing the things that I'm doing now.
Everything has just happened.
Why change my relationship with life? It's worked
for me for 95 years, so I don't want to screw myself
up now.
I don't discuss mortality with other people. Nobody's
ever discussed it with me. Carl never talked about it.
Never. Never, never, never.
I consider myself quite fortunate. The man upstairs
has been kind enough to give me all these
opportunities. Without them, I’d be a basket case.
I can see why people think of death. When you’re old
and wake up in the morning, everything you have
two of, one hurts. You’re not in the best shape. You
break hips and catch pneumonia. Some days you just
have to stay in bed. But you have to push yourself
and get up and do something. You automatically feel
better. When you stop and worry about yourself you
hurt more. Then you discuss it with your friends. And
it's like ‘Oh I hurt more than you do’ and that kind of
thing. It’s a waste of life.
I'm convinced that Carl and my mother are both in
heaven, and they're seeing each other and having a
good time. I'm convinced o