The Mayo Clinic Couple

The Mayo Clinic couple, for those of you who haven't met them yet on YouTube, are 91 and 85 respectively, and have been married for over 60 years. They are from Iowa and were at the Mayo Clinic last year for a week-long physical going over. During breaks between medical appointments they waited in an atrium where there was a piano

One day they started playing duets to pass the time and soon gathered a crowd. One thing led to another and now they are a viral video, famous on the internet and have even appeared on Good Morning America. Who says 90 is old?

I don't know about you, but it gives me hope to see happy, healthy, vigorous old people with a zest for life. All I ever seem to hear about are frail elderly, drooling into their oatmeal in nursing homes. According to my friend, Meg, a nurse( who sent me this video) the Mayo Clinic couple is more typical than you might think.

Most old folks do not end up in nursing homes, in spite of what those peddling long term care insurance would have you believe. Most are lucid and mobile and able, with a bit of help, to lead full, independent lives and to contribute to their families and communities right to the end. After all, Grandma Moses didn't start painting till she was in her eighties.

Watch the Mayo Clinic couple in action. I guarantee it will make you feel much better about getting old yourself !



And now for the icing on the cake. Just last Wednesday the Mayo Clinic couple returned to the atrium and played a concert for a packed house. Here's video number one-- there are more at the Mayo Clinic channel on YouTube. I promise, you are going to want to watch them all. Watching Marlow Cowen play " Let Me Call You Sweetheart" put a lump in my throat. Not only is 90 not bad-- when it is good, it seems it is very very good.