When writer Merilyn Simonds turned 70, she realized she didn’t have a roadmap for the years ahead and thought her 100 year old friend Beth Robinson might have some wisdom to share. The two women from Kingston, Ontario have been friends for so long they don’t remember when they met, but five years ago during the pandemic their weekly Wednesday afternoon walks became a treasured ritual. Robinson had recently lost her daughter and was grateful for the company, while Simonds was seeking guidance about navigating her 70s after watching so many friends and family members face illness or death at 75.
Everything changed when Simonds was diagnosed with giant cell arteritis, an autoimmune disease that left her temporarily blind and unable to walk without falling. Robinson, then 103 and still driving her zippy Toyota Yaris that she bought herself for her 100th birthday, began picking up her younger friend and driving them to their favorite spot by the Cataraqui River. The pair would sit on a bench watching birds and boats, talking about deeply personal things with the trust they had built over years of friendship. They compare their relationship to anamchara, an old Irish word meaning soul friend, describing it as soul mending, soul binding, and soul wrapping. Now 76 and 105 respectively, the women still meet every couple of weeks, proving that what matters isn’t how old you are but how you live and what you do with whatever vulnerabilities you have.
