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"The Old Bat"


Harriet often said, usually with a smile on her face, "I'm just an old bat."  This is the same Harriet who through most of her life was a multi-tasking house of fire.

Now and again, a family member or friend would disagree, telling Harriet she still had adventures ahead of her, she should be out there finding them. Harriet would reply that she'd spent many years and tons of energy raising four kids, she deserved time doing nothing.

Harriet also was challenging a popular myth about old age, that the retirement years represent the best years of a life, "the golden years." A few years ago I made a short satiric digital film about this, starring Harriet. It can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/8hbliazzu3c?si=axozO2nl0w3etEiS
(The best discussion of all this is Susan Jacoby's book, "Never Say Die: the Myth and Marketing of a New Old Age").

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