YouTubeMost people don’t have the chance to complete their bucket list before they pop off to whatever awaits us all after death.
But some brave few manage to make it the mission of their twilight years, just like 102-year-young Edie Simms from Missouri.
With a little help from her pals at the Louisiana Police Department, Edie was able to tick another wild moment off her extensive bucket list: being handcuffed and riding in a Police Cruiser with the blue and twos cheering her on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7ktfxY9Co
Simms got her treat as a thank you gift from the Five Star Senior Centre in South St. Louis, where she volunteers with seniors less fortunate than herself.
She has been donating handmade gifts to the residents for years. Last year alone, Simms sewed and stitched 413 colourful items, from dresses to scarves to cushion covers, that brighten up the residents’ days.
The badass lady celebrated her 102nd birthday with all her friends at the centre on 25 September. Simms said, giggling, ‘You can tell what my folks were doing the Christmas before; making babies!’
GIPHYThe centenarian also thanked the Louisiana Police – who are ‘happy out with requests like this’, probably because they’ve had some awful press recently – by doling out some words of wisdom.
She said:
You keep going, don’t ever stop, whatever it is you’re doing.
And spend some time doing community service because sometimes the people that you reach out and touch, that is the only person they will talk to in a day.
It’s a great world if you just open your eyes and look at it.
I’ll be following Edie’s advice for a happy life to the letter in future, especially if it means I get a ride in a police car without the incarceration at the end of the road.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.