Day 47: Would you like nuts with that?

My grandmother lived on coffee, Ritz crackers and chocolate -- with an occasional nip from one of the little bottles of brandy and water she kept hidden around her home in case she had a bout of angina.

She lived to be almost 94.

I thought of her today as I munched on a grilled cheese sandwich in a little cafe near Ithaca, N.Y. At the counter stood a tiny, slightly stooped woman who had to be well past 80. She waited patiently while the handful of people in line ahead of her placed their orders. Then she waited patiently while her own order was filled.

A few minutes later, she turned and walked toward me carrying, with all the care of a little kid pressed into ring-bearer duty, an ice cream sundae piled high with whipped cream.

Early this morning, I had to have some blood work done in anticipation of my annual physical. I dread the thought of how high my cholesterol figures will be when my doctor goes over my test results with me. The news is usually not good -- at least, not in the "lipids" department.

I wondered about the old woman with the ice cream sundae. Does she have naturally low cholesterol levels? Does she have a death wish?

This much I do now: She was beaming like a little kid who had just been given, well, a dish of ice cream piled high with whipped cream.

I hope she enjoyed every single bite.