Re: Girl Talk
I would like all of you to meet Madge - a woman I admire. I have found her in all of you Peeps. Thank you for sharing "Madge" with me.
Madge is the perfect match for Rocky, her husband. She's adventuresome, realistic, cheerful, about 20 years older than she looks and 40 years older than she feels. She must be doing something right.
Music plays a big part in her life. She plays the drums and loves country music -- even the horn on her pink convertible Cadillac plays Dixie. You don't have far to go to persuade her to sing for a crowd. Give her a good Country & Western song and she's yours. I should mention that she has a full set of bull horns on the front of her car and wears a western hat.
She's against blood sports. She's as spontaneous as Rocky (her husband) is and much more than a pretty face. She tells Jean (her daughter in law) that their marriage may not be the longest marriage on record, but 'by golly' it's tremendous fun. She's off to Mongolia or Libya or the Congo at the drop of a hat. She can shoot the rapids as easily as she can visit Graceland. The last thing she seems to want is to sit in the big house in Hampshire and mingle with the snobby country set.
Rocky and Madge would much rather have bacon and eggs than toast and coffee. No sensible diet for them. No acknowledgement of terminal illness. No concern over cholesterol. Or testosterone. Every moment is valuable. Every day is to be lived to the ultimate. They have no time to sit and wait for something to happen -- instead they prefer to make things happen.
Madge tells Lionel that if they ever think that they are old enough to know better they should have themselves put down. They live totally in the moment. Time doesn't matter to Madge. What is in the time that matters. I love the way they play with one another and with everyone else. Lionel tells Jean that sooner or later Rocky and Madge are going to be put away. Jean assures Lionel that wherever they get put away they will cheer the place up no end. They cope with old age, she says, by refusing to accept it.
Madge says that the two of them never bother to read warning signs because if they did, they would have missed doing many of the things they've done. Those things include shooting the rapids, wandering the globe, dressing in comfortable clothes, and getting off on country music. He gives up the security of a the big home in Hampshire and opts instead for an unencumbered life with a woman who is a perfect match for him.
Rocky doesn't appear to be afraid of anything. I think that a person who is dying must have suspicions that suggest something is afoot. Rocky doesn't ever let these suspicions get in his way. Clearly Madge knows that Rocky's time is limited. They both continue to live life to the fullest, even in a shared hospital room
Rocky is, for me, one of the most likeable characters I have known. I've never seen him waste even a moment of time worrying about his creaking bones or his hearing loss or his lack of success. He's a happy man and it shows.
HB
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