Senior Says: Live in the moment, explore

By Claire Rolinger

She may be 92 years old, but Marian Christiason is sharp as a tack. Born and raised on a farm in Ceresco, Neb., Christiason graduated from a country school in the eighth grade. She then moved to Iowa, where after graduating from high school, she found a job at a sheet metal company constructing B-25s. The United States was amidst World War II at the time, and the Northern American Aviation Company was in need of workers, so Marian took it upon herself to become a Rosie Riveter.

It was through the Northern American Aviation Company that Marion ended up meeting her husband, Milo. For them, it was love at first sight. Milo proposed only five short weeks after meeting Marian, and the two were married a mere week after that. They were together for 72 years.

Because Marion spent close to 80 percent of her life with her husband, one could probably say that she knows a little bit about relationships. When giving her insight as to what she thought dating should be like in high school, Marion said she thought that the severity high schoolers put on relationships is just down right silly.

“In my age, you just didn’t get that serious,” she said shaking her head. “You dated a lot of boys. That was considered healthy, you know? You just don’t get so serious in high school,” she said with a laugh. “I say have fun in high school. Just have fun. That’s supposed to be one of the happiest times of your life. You want to do fun things with a lot of people, and that’s that attitude I try to have now.”

And maybe we should all try be a little more like Marion. We might enjoy life more if we didn’t put so much weight on everything that lies ahead of us and instead chose to live in the moment and have a little fun.