I turned 70 last week. I spent most of the day looking at photos of my younger self that friends were sending me and laughing at myself. Happy hour with my niece at Wilder on Sansom Street in Philly was the extent of my celebration for the day. It feels weird to say I am 70. I’d say I don’t feel it, but I do. Walking in the city today it felt good to be in springtime weather, feeling the sun, chatting with a friend in Rittenhouse Square, stopping for a bao bun for lunch. At the same time, after a bit more than an hour, I was tired. Generally I’m physically healthy; mentally and emotionally more stable and content than I was in my 20s, 30s, 40s. I am happy to be retired and feel I was lucky to have work that was mostly satisfying and rewarding. I also got the opportunity to travel with students and colleagues to London, Italy, and Scotland. Add to that my own trips and travels with a cherished group of friends. From childhood, I’d always had dreams of travel, so those dreams came true. Yeah, I’ve hit a few bumps, faced some obstacles, but mostly, for me, life is good. And, I’m expecting that to continue.

Neither of my parents made it this far. They were divorced, but, oddly, both died the same year, within three months of each other. The year from 1986-1987 was incredibly difficult for me and my brother. We always talk on my mom’s birthday, March 25. Our conversations, like many of our generation, often are around our current health issues; luckily we both are managing them as well as possible. My father had inherited heart disease from his dad; my mom died of lung cancer. Both were 57 when they died. I still feel a gripping in my heart when I think about it. My brother and I often wonder together what Nancy and Buddy would have thought about the world as it is now, 40 years since we last saw them.

All that said, for my 70th year I am hoping to raise money for cancer research. I’m worried that given the current political climate, government funding, particularly to universities, for basic science and health research will be limited. For that reason, I’ve started a birthday fundraiser, looking for donations to the Association for Cancer Research (AACR). If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll consider contributing at this link: https://donate.aacr.org/campaign/Linda-s-Birthday-fundraiser.