LAUSR

Dad died just before his 100th birthday, only a few years back. I have written about him before in these pages (References 1, 2) and he is not often far from my mind. However, what recently caused me to think once again about my late father was the fact that his older sister, my indestructible Aunty Rose, had just celebrated her 105th last month. Both sibs are examples of the felicitous combination of a robust genetic endowment, good medical care, and a large dollop of the good luck of having grown up in a peaceful social democracy. It was not just nature that watched over them both, but nurture as well in the guise of the excellent modern Canadian system of universal health care. While Dad had his first myocardial infarct at just age 56, he lived to tell the tale by lasting almost another half century in large part due to his timely receipt of the relatively recent wonder technologies of both curative and preventive cardiovascular medicine. Aunt Rose, even before she was struck twice by SARS-CoV-2 (the first, early on in the pandemic before vaccinations became available and the second bout just after her third jab), had previously survived both a fractured hip and a CVA. On the occasion of my aunt's recent birthday, which reminded me of how much I missed her “little brother”, I penned the following note. (The mention of “Zaide [grandpa] Barel” refers to my mother's father who died at 111 [Reference 3]. Mom herself left us too young, at only 93.) “Dear Auntie Rose, Our best wishes for your 105th! I used to feature a picture of Zaide Barel in my lectures on age and aging but now it is you who has become my gerontological poster girl. I show your picture boasting that at 105, you my dad's older sister are one of the only people on this planet who survived both the Spanish flu of 1919–1921 and exactly a century later, two attacks in the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–?). And speaking of dad, although we (and I know you do too) all miss him terribly, as long as you are around, he is still with us even if very tenuously. Keep it up and all of our love from Israel, Mark, Ora, and the kids, Sashi, Jonesi, and Aden.” Her speedy reply [handwriting is from a program]. Received: 18 March 2022 Accepted: 30 March 2022