So You’ve Had It Rough? Good!

I was fortunate to spend four years as a hospice nurse. It was my observation that patients who experienced the Great Depression and World War II were tough as nails. Although elderly and ill, they were resolute in trying to get well. It was an attitude I noticed in my own mom. She always found a reason to live: a wedding, a birth, her 100th birthday. Only at the age of 101 was she ready to go. —A.M. via e-mail