Jackie shares her story

Jackie is one of those people you sometimes meet who are living a more or less ordinary life: wife, mother, grandmother, former elementary school teacher now retired and living happily with her husband in the small burg of Morrisville in the middle of New York State.

But that’s not all of Jackie’s story. Get her talking and you soon realize this 67-year-old lady has managed to turn an ordinary life into a pretty special and rewarding life indeed, even with the tough times any life can serve up.

“I taught school for 30 years,” Jackie begins her story. “I had 10 years off with my children. I had one son that was very sick. Had a liver transplant at age 12. And he is now 37 and doing fantastic. So that took a part of my life. But I worked teaching for 30 years and I retired in 2017.”

She fills part of her days in retirement as a substitute teacher and also doing some crocheting and knitting. She also likes to play games that involve numbers, letters, and words. “I like to write and I feel like I'm still a pretty good writer.  My writing is not as in writing books or newspaper articles. But, during my teacher career, I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the students narrative writing or expressive writing. I'm a stickler for spelling and am often asked to proofread others' pieces of writing.”

Jackie shares another part of the life she’s shared with her husband Dan. “He and I did drive motorcycles for probably 15 years,” she reports. “We rode our bikes mainly on the country roads around this part of the state, and one time we trailered them out west to ride around a big national park. I was still pretty much a novice. But then it got to the point where maybe, you know, we've been lucky and it's dangerous, and I was always the cautious one, so we sold them.”

Jackie also shares her outlook on living a good life. “I just go about my business and try to be nice to others,” she says. “I think I've got a pretty good sense of humor. My kids think I'm hilarious. I'm very, very close with my kids and my grandchildren. I just love them. I feel like I've been blessed.”

The fact that her kids also care about their mother and grandmother was borne out about two years ago when her son gave her a bottle of Prevagen as a Mother’s Day gift. “You know, kids are quick,” she says. “They remember things and I guess they thought I wasn’t remembering little things like I once did.”

She adds, “I did take it and you know what? I like this product.”

For a woman who has never stopped trying to make the most out of her life, that is a pretty extra-ordinary thing.