My grandma (my mother’s mom) turned 99 years old today. She’s the oldest living person I know and I don’t know anyone personally who has ever lived longer than her. Every year she makes it to another birthday I marvel at what she’s seen in her lifetime – 99 years is a long time to live. My kids have their fingers crossed she’ll make it to 100 years so she can make it on the Smucker’s 100 year segment on the Today show! I can’t imagine that even being a possibility, but then again I’ve been saying hard goodbyes to her every year for 6 years thinking it would be the last!

On our summer road trip adventure we made the trek up to Montana to celebrate her birthday (a little early). She doesn’t know who I am and she’s not real talkative. But after we sang to her, we asked her to give us some advice. She was quiet for quite a while. So quiet I started wondering if she remembered that we had asked her a question! In her soft voice she finally replied, “Don’t live to be 99.” There you have it! Spoken from someone who’s lived it – 99 years is too long to live!