Shirley MacLaine: Victory Garden Fan?

"As I look back over my life, as my mind wanders freely over how I've lived and loved and protested and questioned, I realize that aging well isn't about the search for happiness, but more about quietly feeling content with what I've experienced. Loving without caring too much, you might say. And more than anything, I've come to appreciate the value of conflict. Everything isn't always meant to be light and love. The dark times, the conflicts, that's where real learning can happen.

For example, during the Great Depression my family never had more than $300 in the bank, and we were taught to save for the future because one never knew when it could happen again. I remember I was confused over the declaration of war I heard Roosevelt announce through the old-fashioned radio in the living room as we gathered around trying to understand what "infamy" meant. I wept over the death of Roosevelt as I was coming up the back stairs of our house in Richmond, Virginia. I loved the "victory gardens" we were taught to till every weekend to be rewarded with ice-cream dinners on Sunday nights."

- Shirley MacLaine in Sage-ing While Age-ing (For a longer excerpt, go here.)