Four years ago on this date, I met a special centenarian. At the time, Emma Lommasson was a 102-year-old sassy woman with her wit and intellect fully intact. She is still the oldest person I have ever met.

This is me with Emma Lommasson in December of 2013.

Now, I can sense you squirming in your seat because you are anticipating this blog post to take a predictable sad turn. Hold your horses.

When the memory of our visit in 2013 was brought to my attention, I did some internet research. I know that Emma was still alive in March of 2017. However, I could find nothing to confirm or deny that she is still presently enjoying the sweet offerings of this world as I write this. If any of my Montana friends know about Emma, I would greatly appreciate an update.

Over two years ago, I wrote a blog post about living to 100 and beyond. I was a little wishy-washy with giving my opinion, but I ultimately declared that I would like to live to see 100. There is a portion of people in or society who when asked about reaching the century mark they will respond with “I would never want to live that long.”

Since I wrote about this subject in August of 2015, I have read more and more about folks who live to be 100. I have also read with interest about a subgroup within the century club, the so-called “supercentenarians” who live past 110 years old. From the literature, I have found out that these people live comfortable and healthy lives up until the day they die. Hence, they don’t fight long bouts of illness or suffer through a couple of tough years before expiring. Rather, they just peacefully succumb to natural causes after living for a really long time.

I can now say with certainty that, if it was God’s plan, I would like to live to be 100. I think the part of living in pain is what scares most people about living for so long, but according to these centenarians, it really isn’t an issue. I know being alone is another fear people think about when being blessed with longevity; I guess all I can say to that is have a lot of kids who have a lot of grandchildren.

I plan to continue to feed my interest when it comes to learning about people who live to be 100 and beyond. If Emma is still around, I sure hope she is doing great. Don’t Blink.