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| Emma Morano when she celebrated her 117th bday (Source) |
Emma Morano, an Italian, is the last surviving person from the 19th century having been born in 1899. That's the same year when Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmitted the first radio signal. And that was 4 years before the Wright Brothers successfully flew the first airplane.
Just imagine what she has witnessed throughout her lifetime - not just the 2 World Wars but also in terms of the progress in infrastructure, technology, ways of doing things, people's values and behavior, among many other things. 😮
When I was in high school, personal computers were still super expensive and I remember we first learned how to type using a typewriter.
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| Typewriter (Source) |
Just thinking about the evolution of typewriter to a personal computer, floppy diskette to cloud-based storage, rotary phone to smartphone, walkman to Spotify (and all formats in between) - are all mind-blowing to me.
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| Evolution of storage devices - from floppy diskette to CD to SD card to USB and today, cloud-based storage (Source) |
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| Evolution of the telephone - from rotary phones to cellphones and today, smartphones. (Source) |
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| Evolution of music players - from Walkman to mp3 players to ipods and today, online music streaming like Spotify (Source) |
What more for Morano whose lifetime spanned 3 centuries?!
Having enjoyed a long life one might easily conclude that Morano's life might have been easy but nope, she had a very challenging life. As she shared in past interviews, she was forced to marry a man she didn't love (who threatened to kill her if she didn't marry him), gave birth to a child who died at 6 months' old and separated from his husband coz he was abusive.
What about her occupation? She was a factory worker until age 65 then from there, she worked in a kitchen of a boarding school until age 75. That leaves her with 42 more years post-retirement! 😮 😮😮 There's nothing much written about what her daily routine was like after retirement. But I am curious to know what activities kept Morano's life busy for those 42 years of active life.
Morano was a devout Catholic and wore the rosary on her neck up until her latter years when she was prevented from wearing them for fear that it would choke her while she was asleep.
She also had a penchant for clocks. She had a collection in her home and she also loved to give them as gifts. This is very interesting - to some people, clocks may cause stress. Like me, I don't like to keep a clock in my bedroom coz the ticking sound at night makes me feel more pressured when I couldn't sleep. Haha... 😂
When asked what Morano's secret to a long life is in 2013 (when she was 114 years old), she said she ate 3 eggs a day, drank a glass of homemade grappa (grape-based brandy), enjoyed chocolate sometimes, and above all, she thought positively about the future.
In 2016 when she turned 117 years old, she was again asked the same question. This time, Morano credited her long life to her diet of raw eggs (reduced then from 3 to 2 eggs) and cookies, and staying single (or the lack of a husband). And yep, she lived alone. She cooked for herself until age 112 and lived alone in her home up until she was 115 years old! 😮😮😮
But wait, there's more revelation. In the few times, she became ill, she refused to be sent to the hospital. Also, according to her doctor, Morano has never eaten much fruit or vegetables. 😮😮😮 Her characteristic, her doctor said, is that Morano always ate the same thing, every day, every week, every month and every year. Wow!
Morano didn't take a conventional healthy balanced diet but there she was - she lived until the age of 117. I don't know what lesson to take away from here but it seems like if you want to live long, eat whatever makes you happy as long as it's always the same food every day, keep a positive attitude and don't marry. 😂😂😂 But honestly, I don't think I want to live that long. 😂 Besides, how can you save up and prepare for 42 years of retirement life? 😂 Imagine, her post-retirement life is equivalent to the mid-life of an average individual! 😬 😊
