Mrs. Threadgoode on Growing Old

page 221-222/ August 21, 2010
Quote #6
Quote: “‘Just think, Evelyn, if you live to be as old as I am, you’ve got thirty-seven more years to go…’ Evelyn laughed. ‘What does it feel like to be eighty-six, Mrs. Threadgoode?’ ‘Well, I don’t feel any different. Like I say, it creeps up on you. One day you’re young and the next day your bosoms and your chin drops and you’re wearing a rubber girdle. But you don’t know you’re old. Course, I can tell when I look in the mirror…sometimes it nearly scares me to death. My neck looks just like old crepe paper, and I’ve got so many wrinkles and there’s nothing you can do about it. Oh, I used to have something from Avon for wrinkles, but it didn’t last but about an hour and they all came back, so I finally stopped fooling with it. I don’t even put on a face anymore, just a little lotion and eyebrow pencil, so you can tell I’ve got eyebrows… they’re white now, honey… and I’m full of liver spots.’ She looked at her hands. ‘You wonder where all those little fellows come from.’ Then she laughed ‘ I’m even too old to make a good picture. Francis wanted to snap a picture of me and Mrs. Otis, but I hid my head. Said I might break the camera.’ Evelyn asked if she ever got lonesome out there, ‘Well, yes, sometimes I do. Of course, all my people are gone… but once in a while, some of the ones from the church come to see me, but it’s just hello and goodbye. That’s just the way it is, hello and goodbye.’ ‘Sometimes I look at my picture of Cleo and little Albert and wonder what they’re up to… and dream about the old days.’ She smiled at Evelyn. ‘That’s what I’m living on now, honey, creams, dreams of what I used to do.’”

This quote makes me feel sad for Mrs. Threadgoode because none of her family is left; they have all passed away so now she is just biding her time until it is her time to join them. Although she seems lonely, her spirits always seem high and she never shows that she is sad or depressed. Mrs. Threadgoode has had such a positive affect on Evelyn and has helped her realize that you have to enjoy the time you are given to spend with the people you love and to make the most of the life you were given. The quote makes you realize that you have enjoy every moment of your life because you will soon be old and then you will look back and wish you would have appreciated it more.