At celebrations, including birthdays, we very often wish for health and long life. But is there anything good in the latter? The question is debatable.
When we are young, it really seems that time flies too fast and we would like to live as long as possible. But over the years opinions change.
Jeanne Kalman is a long-lived woman who lived to 122 years. She was a peculiar lady, the one who does not chase after eternal life. Maybe in her easy attitude to themselves and others and hid her secret of longevity? Jeanne was born in France, in the small town of Arles.
A beautiful place, which to many would seem a paradise on earth. Perhaps Kalman’s life would resemble a fairy tale, if not for the two wars that fell on her youth, and epidemics of influenza and cholera, which took away her loved ones …
It is sad enough to realize that Jeanne outlived even her only daughter. It broke the woman, so she decided that in her life she would not be constrained by any prohibitions. Smoke a cigarette? That’s fine. Drink a glass of whiskey?
That’s okay, too. No, Kalman didn’t abuse, but she preferred to live her life without thinking about health or consequences. All the more so because in her spare time the woman played tennis, went for long walks in the fresh air.
She could not think about work: Jeanne had a rich father and then a wealthy husband who allowed her not to go to work every day.When both her father and husband died, Jeanne was left alone. In order not to look for work, she made a cunning deal with a lawyer: she promised him her house, but until her death, the man had to pay a monthly round sum.
Apparently, this same lawyer thought that the old lady did not have long to live, and happily agreed to these terms. Except that the perky Jeanne survived him…The woman left her home at 110 years old when she accidentally burned down her house. Under the control of specialists, she herself was better and safer. Without chronic diseases, cheerful and positive: Kálmán died in the summer of 1997, leaving her name in history.