Senior Moments by Linda Kaufman

What is it like to start dating again in your seventies, after a 47-year-marriage?

Do you ever feel invisible to your adult children?

How does one navigate the move to assisted living and relinquishing of freedom?

How do you live with regrets and losses?  How does one survive saying good-bye to a husband on his death bed?

These are among the themes portrayed in a series of interwoven vignettes in the musical, "Senior Moments," by Linda Kaufman.

Last night was opening night in San Antonio, and I was (as we said in the Sixties) "blown away" by the talented cast, Linda's music, and the humorous and poignant handling of the things most of us dread coming down the pike in old age.

Linda is almost eighty herself, but she has the energy of a forty-year-old--a successful realtor, a piano teacher, and writer.  She's a powerhouse of enthusiasm!

A few years ago, three of us in the audience were in Montreal together with Linda and remember her singing "The Power of A Dream" to us.  When we heard it performed by the cast last night, we were teary together.  A beautiful  song, maybe the best of the whole show, it resonated with us on so many levels, one of which was that Linda herself had realized her dream, had made it happen!

The program quoted Linda as saying, "I don't want to leave this world until Barbra Streisand sings one of my songs."  While Streisand herself didn't sing the songs, it must have been overwhelming to hear so many great voices singing them on stage.

Today there are two more sold-out performances, and I imagine there will be another standing ovation at the end as there was last night.

At one point, after a song about "getting fit," the emcee asked Linda's healthy 94-year-old husband and his twin sister to stand to show "what it looks like" to be fit at 94!

Back when I first retired from UTSA, I was a writing coach and Linda was my first client.  Actually, it was her idea and she often referred me to other friends of hers and some forever friendships grew out of it.  Linda and I worked together for several years off and on, then Linda suggested I start leading writing groups.  Not only does Linda reach for her own dreams,  she encourages her friends to do the same!

Those of us a little younger look to Linda as a role model of positive, energetic, optimistic living--all of which were embodied in the themes of her musical.  Linda's a rock star in our book!