Roberta’s Culinary Calisthenics
A New-found Control
Your hear-and-read option:
Listen to Roberta’s story as you read it (below).
Roberta stared at her right hand, held aloft like a curious, foreign object. The third finger, the ring finger, twitched, stubbornly refusing to cooperate. It was a subtle rebellion, a tiny mutiny against her otherwise well-ordered existence.
At 82, Roberta had learned to accept the creaks and groans of aging, but this -- this was an affront to her culinary soul.
“Come on, you stubborn thing,” she muttered, flexing the finger, trying to coax it into submission. It responded with another twitch, a silent “no.”
The issue had started subtly, a slight clumsiness when handling her favorite paring knife, a fumbled pinch of salt. Now, it was interfering with her signature lemon meringue pie, the meringue refusing to peak properly, the delicate swirl of lemon curd marred by her unsteady hand.
Roberta was a woman of action, not resignation. She wouldn’t surrender to a rebellious finger. She needed a plan, a strategy, a culinary counteroffensive.
Her kitchen, her domain, became her gym. She looked around, assessing the tools of her trade. She reimagined them not just as implements of cooking but as weights and resistance bands. The heavy cast iron skillet: a perfect dumbbell. The wooden spoon: a tool for fine motor skill development. Even her whisk evolved to a device for rhythmic, repetitive motion.
Her first exercise involved the cast iron skillet. She held it at arm’s length, slowly raising and lowering it, feeling the burn in her biceps, her ring finger gripping the handle with renewed determination. “One, two, three …,” she counted aloud, the rhythm of her voice a soothing counterpoint to the clang of the skillet.
Next, she tackled the wooden spoon. She filled a bowl with dried beans and practiced stirring, focusing on the precise movements of her fingers and the gentle rotation of her wrist. She imagined the beans as stubborn meringue, the spoon as her weapon against its unruly nature.
The whisk became her instrument of fine motor control. She practiced whisking air, then water, then egg whites -- focusing on the delicate, circular motion, the subtle flex of her ring finger. She felt a flicker of triumph as the egg whites began to froth, to thicken, to peak.
Her kitchen became a symphony of clanging pots, rhythmic stirring, and the gentle swish of the whisk. She invented new exercises, incorporating everyday tasks into her routine. Chopping vegetables became a lesson in precision, each slice a controlled movement, each diced carrot a victory. Lifting heavy pots of simmering soup strengthened her grip, her ring finger finally cooperating, finally understanding its role in the grand culinary scheme.
The “culinary calisthenics,” as she called them, weren’t just about physical fitness. They were about mental focus, about the joy of movement, about the celebration of life’s simple pleasures. She found a new appreciation for the tools of her trade, for the rhythm of cooking, for the satisfaction of mastering a difficult task.
One afternoon, her friend, Martha, stopped by. “What’s all the racket?” she asked, peering into the kitchen.
Roberta, flushed and smiling, held up her right hand. “Look!” she exclaimed, wiggling her ring finger. “It’s working!”
Martha watched, amused, as Roberta demonstrated her latest exercise, a series of wrist rotations with a rolling pin. “You’re turning your kitchen into a gym!” she chuckled.
“It’s more than that,” Roberta replied, her voice filled with a quiet pride. “It’s about … reclaiming my hand, my kitchen, my life.”
She baked her lemon meringue pie that afternoon. The meringue peaked perfectly, a cloud of sugary perfection. The lemon curd swirled gracefully, a testament to her new-found control.
As she served a slice to Martha, she smiled. "You know," she said, "I think I've actually gotten better at this. My chopping is more precise, my stirring is more even, and my grip is stronger than ever."
Martha, savoring the pie, nodded in agreement. "It's like you've found a new art form, Roberta."
Roberta chuckled. "It's more like a cooking show, Martha. And I'm the star."
She looked at her hand, no longer a source of frustration, but a symbol of resilience, a testament to the power of adaptation, and a reminder that life can be a delicious adventure
Also hear and read Roberta’s “parent story” from 2024
Go to “Helen’s Name Game”
Age: Our Greatest Asset!
Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF retired, author of “52 Shades of Graying”
Weekly Stories About Aging Well
Stories about addressing ageism.
Stories about handling ableism.
Stories about thriving during the second half of life.
Accolade: “Love reading your stories. You never disappoint.” - Mary K.
How to use “My Latest Legacy Nugget” resources to share
your “52 Shades of Graying” comment with a family member or friend.
Template for “My Latest Legacy Nugget” note - birthday
Template for “My Latest Legacy Nugget” note - graduation day
Template for “My Latest Legacy Nugget” note - holiday greeting
Template for “My Latest Legacy Nugget” note - special day
Template for “My Latest Legacy Nugget” note - wedding anniversary
Template for “My Latest Legacy Nugget” note - wedding day
See all past issues of “52 Shades of Graying.”
See all past chats of “52 Shades of Levity.”
Check guidelines for your “52 Shades of Graying” Discussion Group.
I’m healthy at 82, and my doctor says I should shoot for biking 30 minutes each day on a stationary, recumbent bike, making sure my heart rate is elevated each time.
I’m pretty faithful to that schedule – except I frequently cut that bike time time to 10 minutes or so because I watch TV news at the same time I bike - and that’s about all the news I can nowadays in one chunk.
* What personal workout routine do you follow for maintaining your physical fitness?