When I'm Eighty-Six

My Danish friend (and fellow dental student) , Julie, invited me to go sailing with her grandfather last weekend. She had been telling for the past couple weeks that he really wanted to meet me…I thought…why of course:)

We took the train from Aarhus to Vejle, the town where her grandparents live. When we arrived her grandmother had a wonderful Danish meal for us and we proceeded to the fjord for the day.

Julie’s grandfather, Erik, is one the most fascinating people I have ever met and I am grateful I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with him.

Here’s why…

· He just turned 86 yrs. old and has been sailing for over 70 yrs.

· He competes every Thursday and still wins regularly…He proudly showed me all of his sailing competition prizes and his most recent…a pretty nice Helly Hansen jacket.

· Over the summer he and his wife used to sail together for a month and just returned from a three-week trip in August.

· He is the president of his local rotary club and welcomes exchange students from all over the world for a sail on his “Spar ES." When we arrived to the Spar Es he had put a U.S. flag on the boat just for me.

· When we were getting ready to get off the boat (or so I thought) he told me sit down and said, “This is the best part.” He pulled out three orange Fantas along with his favorite candy and proceeded to chat about our lives.

· He was a member of the 40 Club and was kicked out after age 40…so when he turned 41, he and his friends started there own club called the 41 Club….and after 45 yrs., he and the other members still have weekly meetings where they invite interesting people to lecture to them on various topics.

· Before he retired he worked in sales of farm equipment and traveled all over the world…very interesting stories…and I can’t remember all the languages Julie said he speaks fluently!

· Every picture or ornament in his house has a great story to it. (Granddaughter made it, a great uncle who sold umbrellas, uncle who was a bishop and the only Catholic in his family, view from summer home, elephant tail from travels, etc.).

· He competes weekly in bridge and ping-pong…Last week he ranked number with his partner in bridge!

· He and his wife complete a crossword puzzle everyday and in the evening help each other out to solve it.

· Early in the day I noticed a book on the coffee table, which I later found out he purposely left for me to see. It was called “George W. Bush…the Great Accomplishments during his Presidency.” Later during dinner he asked if I voted for Obama, I didn’t know what to say because I thought he was fascinated with W, so I just tried to smile. He started laughing and ran to get the book. He told me to open it…it was all blank white pages!

· He was taking his wife to Oslo this weekend to visit his other granddaughter.

· He showed me pictures of a whale that had committed suicide in the fjord and when the Spar Es sailed right next to her Danish Majesty's Yacht Dannebrog. And after asked me if he knew of anyone else who could show pictures on the television like he just did.

· He is on Facebook.

I could go on…I hope to be so great at 86!