Am I Old yet? — Leah Komaiko

The Story of Two Women, Generations Apart, Growing Up and Growing Young in a frank, funny, and illuminating account for anyone who fears aging but longs to grow up.

At forty-four, Leah Komaiko was not aging graciously. Not that she ever has. After all, her generation expects to stay forever young. But now she feels old and empty inside. Nothing she thinks of trying (plastic surgery, a vacation, a puppy, or a new husband) can make her feel young again. Then she meets Adele---a woman who never expected to be ninety-four---alone, forgotten, and living in a nursing home.

Am I Old Yet? is an inspiring memoir that takes us deep into a world where most hope never to enter and few, willingly, dare to go: the nursing home. What for Leah begins as a reluctant agreement to spend one hour a week with Adele at the California Chateau evolves into hundreds of hours. Through their visits and conversations (about aging, death, miracles, and even sex), Adele, who is completely blind, surprisingly is the one who helps Leah see the truth about growing old.

With Adele as her host, Leah becomes a regular at the Chateau events: sing-a-longs, food fights in the dining room, a Halloween party (where pirates swashbuckle in wheelchairs). Gradually, her own fears of aging begin to lift as she sees that Adele--- resilient, independent, and almost embarrassingly enthusiastic---is, in many ways, younger than she is.

This original and poignant book obliterates the generation gap. It shares the "coming-of-age" stories of two wonderful and flawed women, fifty years apart, who find themselves in places in their lives they never thought they'd be and in a friendship they never dreamed they'd know. Am I Old Yet? reveals that no matter how old people are, if they have love in their lives there is only one age: Alive.