Retirement NOT on
Birdie M. Hale’s Horizon
(Continued from Page 7)
that I use but in a different context. And I don’t
know what they are talking about. It is like I am
in a foreign country and I am not aware of what is
going on. The people even look different. Everything is completely another world for me at this
age.”
And what about Birdie’s age? “Well, I don’t think
about age. People say to me, ‘Well, you don’t look
like you are 95.’ What are 95 year-old people supposed to look like? When they find out my age,
‘Oh you look good!’ As opposed to what, I want
to know. That’s not a compliment because what
they are really saying is, ‘oh, you’re 95, you’re
supposed to be ugly!’ Age, death and sickness
and ugliness are not entirely indigenous to age. If
that were so, how do you explain the stillborn in
the children’s hospitals? I mean age has nothing
to do with it. You could be 40 and look like you
have lived 90 years because of your lifestyle. I am
a very ‘young,’ old lady and I don’t like women
in general. I especially don’t like ‘old’ women. I
can’t stand the feeble gibberish they speak like the
complaining, stereotyped older person. If something is wrong with you, go see what it is and do
something about it. And you don’t have to be sick
because you have lived a certain amount of years.
I don’t like that at all. I walk four miles a day
and drink half a gallon of water—that keeps me
healthy. I have no sympathy for people who abuse
their health.”
should find out what his or her body needs such
as the amount of food, what foods are good for
them according to their age and frame and activity. And, then eat and drink that kind of thing.
Okay, if I am not supposed to have pork chops,
why should I buy them, why have them in the
house? Have only those things in your house
that are beneficial to you. Why go out and buy
something you are not supposed to have? If I buy
only the foods that I can have then I can eat all
day and it won’t bother me.”
know my place and I can make my own breakfast
and so forth and I know the shops and people
know me in the neighborhood.”
“I have been going to the same restaurant across
the street, the Flame, for more than 12 years.
They know me. On Mondays, I usually have
lamb chop and on Tuesday, I will have salmon or
fish. On Wednesday, I have bacon and egg and on
Thursday, I have fish again. On Friday, a doubledecker it is, turkey and lettuce and tomatoes.
Then on Saturday, I will have salmon again. On
Sunday, it is just freewheeling, whatever I want.
I usually have cranberry juice and for dessert, I
usually have ice cream. And, one time I went in,
they were very, very busy and I waited and waited.
When the waiter came to me, he brought my food
because they saw me come in and they know what
I eat on a certain day.”
“First of all, we should eat breakfast like a king,
lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.
When you eat breakfast that means you ‘break the
fast.’ Breakfast should be your biggest meal. I’m
through with dinner by eight o’clock at night and
I go to bed no later than eleven o’clock. I sleep all
night and I get up at seven o’clock the next morning. I have gone eleven hours without anything to
eat.”
“A large part of my family is in Las Vegas, and
they would gladly have me out there. But, I
couldn’t take care of myself in Las Vegas. If I
were living with my niece, I’d have a room but I
wouldn’t know how to use all the stoves. For instance, they use gas and I am used to electricity. I
don’t know the neighbors and I don’t know where
things are in the city. Someone would have to
take me here or take me there. So, I wouldn’t be
an asset. I would be a burden, so to speak. They
would have to take care of me and I am not geared
to that.”
“I am so hungry when I get up. If I have been suspected of doing a crime, all they would have to do
is refuse to give me breakfast and I would confess
to anything! I am so hungry when I get up; I am
literally nervous and cranky. I am thirsty and I
am hungry and I am stinky and the whole thing.
And, I have to have something to eat immediately.
I eat (and, there’s no such thing as ‘breakfast’
food) food! I might have had lamb chops left over
from dinner and mashed potatoes, so this is what
I would eat it for breakfast. When you are hungry,
your stomach doesn’t know what time it is, you
are hungry. So, there’s no such thing as ‘breakfast’ food, ‘dinner’ food or ‘lunch’ food. It is food.”
“I like my independence. And, I am still working.
Suppose I were there and received a call for me
to do an audition. What would I do? I can’t run
back and forth from the coast and I am anchored
here for auditions. I have been ensconced here so
long; it would take me two years to moving out of
here. I have had my post office box for 55 years.
Can you imagine what would happen if I suddenly wanted all my mail changed to some street
in Las Vegas? Why, they would think I’d lost my
mind. No, that doesn’t make any kind of sense.
I am free to travel whenever I want to and able
to. And, as I said I am not lonesome and if I feel I
want to see somebody on the coast, I go.”
“People are obsessed with not getting old. Getting old is a blessing. If you live long enough, you
are going to get old. The only thing that can keep
you from getting old is to die young. Birdie agrees
with the idea that people can’t perceive age and
beauty at the same time but doesn’t understand
it. I don’t know why people don’t understand it.
Well, maybe it is my ego but I think I look better
than I did 30 years ago!
Birdie’s practical views on aging and her diet follow form and function with her views on other
important matters in our world today. Birdie
has lived in New York City since 1943 when she
cam e to New York to see her husband off to war
and has been there ever since. Belonging to New
York is important to Birdie because, “I was born
in Pandeo, West Virginia, which doesn’t exist any
more. My father was a coal miner in addition to
everything else. He moved from town to town.
There were coalmining sites and when the coal
was mined out then the miners moved on and
there was no more city or town. So that’s why
there is no Pandeo left. So, my passport just says
I was born in West Virginia on October 21, 1912
with no city listed.”
Despite her fondness for New York, Birdie does
sometimes miss the “New York” of 1943. The
New York of 2007, according to Birdie, “Has
changed completely. I feel like I am in a foreign
country. You walk down the street and you hear
every language but English. It’s like living in a
foreign country. There are different foods in the
markets and I don’t know what they are. The
people seemed nicer, too, in the 40’s and 50’s. I
used to ride the subway up into Harlem, at two
or three o’clock in the morning. You couldn’t go
there now without an armored car. So many different people have come to live in New York living
different lifestyles. We didn’t use to have all this
crime and shootings and stealing.”
“Well, I have never used make-up and I don’t go
for these plastic surgeries and that sort of thing.
I just have never thought of myself in terms of
aging. I mean that this is just not a part of my
thinking. So, if I have a wrinkle, so what? I am
not going to have plastic surgery. It changes your
face, it changes your eyes and you get so you can’t
speak and you can’t smile.”
Birdie can’t even really consider West Virginia
much of a “home” because she only lived there
for the first two months of her life. “My family
moved to Washington State which is also a coal
mining area. Later, we moved to Ellumsburg (?),
Washington and we had a farm because my dad’s
health was failing him from mining. Just like
MacDonald’s farm, we had some of everything.”
What other trends does Birdie think are silly in
today’s somewhat narcissistic society? “I am so
sick of this losing weight and losing weight and
losing weight. Okay, first of all, we are all different. What is sugar to one is salt to another. One
Although Birdie still has some family in the western United States, she wouldn’t ever consider leaving the “hometown city” she knows so well. She
feels that she has evolved as a New Yorker. “I can
take care of myself in New York. For instance, I
While Birdie feels that acting ‘old’ is not for her,
neither are the lengths people go to KEEP from
looking ‘old.’ Her views on plastic surgery are
very specific, “You have a wrinkle; they cut your
skin by the ear and pull the skin back to straighten out the wrinkle. Okay, what have you done?
You’ve replaced a wrinkle with a scar. And, it’s
not permanent either. And in a few months, your
face is going to sag again. And you have to do it
again. So every time you remove a wrinkle, you
get a scar. Does that make sense?”
56 Woman
The County
Magazine
Birdie, usually definite on what she thinks about
many subjects given her vast experiences, maturity and wisdom, is somewhat at a loss to explain
why these drastic changes have come about. “I
just wish I knew and wish we could find out what
we can do about it. Economic conditions could be
part of it.” However, after contemplating further,
her answer becomes very definite, reaching back
to her days as a girl being raised in a very strong,
Christian household. “I feel that people have
denied God. There’s no God. Everything is scientific. If there’s not a God, where do all of these
flowers come from and different animals and the
trees? And if this is all scientific, why don’t they
do something about all the floods and stop all