At 99, Enid is still grooving with God

WHEN you look at Enid Noel it's hard to believe she’s 99. Noel was born on May 6, 1922.
Some might equate being 99 with certain things like limited mobility, difficulty with short-term memory, among others, but Noel has none of these.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says some of the common health conditions associated with ageing include hearing loss, cataracts and refractive errors, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, depression, and dementia. It added as people age they are likely to experience several conditions at the same time.

But the 99-year-old La Horquetta, Arima resident has none of these and can still easily outdo this reporter in the two-step.
She visits her doctor every three months for a check-up.
“Up to now, everything is all right. In the early days, about four or three years ago, I had a weak valve to my heart. I went to hospital and took the treatment and so on and since then that is it,” she said.
She still sews and makes all of her masks.

What’s her secret?

The first is her unwavering and enduring faith in her God.
When asked about her secret for a long, well-lived life, Noel said, “A close relationship with the Lord because we can do nothing without his will.
“And he directs me what to do and what not to do.
“Even though I might do something on my own, he will tell me, ‘You’re not to do so and so. It is not nice for you'.”

Every morning Noel prays and thanks God for her ageing process.
But there is another secret Noel to which attributes her long life, and that is dancing, something she has always loved and still enjoys doing. Long ago, she would go dancing, doing the foxtrot at black-and-white balls, and won prizes while attending those dances.
Noel’s life has produced six children (four alive, two deceased), 18 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
She was born in Tobago and grew up with just her mother. She left Tobago at 12 and came to Trinidad.

“My elder sister wanted more for me. I am my mother’s last child in four of us. My eldest sister and brother wanted me to have more education and facilities. So they decided they would come to Trinidad. At that time, I went to school there.
"They just wanted me, especially as the last sister, to get what they did not get and to be a little more modern.”
When she came to Trinidad the family lived at Coffee Street, San Fernando, and she went to school there as well. But she got married early and this displeased some of her family members.

“What they wanted from me...it was a little disappointing. I got married and had to go with my husband.”
Noel was married to a successful sailor (who has since died) but the marriage changed suddenly after she delivered her fourth child.
After coming home from the hospital, she met a new woman in her home, who told her she had to find somewhere else to live.

Noel moved in with her sister – but continued the relationship with her husband. However, after their fifth child, he divorced her and she was on her own.
“She shares this intimate story because she wants women to know that even if you may be deserted and alone with your children, God will provide,” her granddaughter Natasha Leon said.
Noel went on to become a successful seamstress, providing on her own for her children.
She has seen a lot of TT’s historical events, but what she remembers most is what a Carnival of yesteryear was like.

“I loved Carnival. I loved to see the dancers and the costumes – I was a seamstress – and seeing them with different costumes. When you had to make a dress you got ideas.”
She never played mas, however.
Even though the world Noel grew up in is vastly different from the one that she lives in today, she enjoys living in the Information Age because “it is more modern and it is also easier to get things.
“In my days, way back, was a little difficult. We did not have the opportunity to have all those facilities.

“But now that it is here, we love it now. We would choose it now.”
Like the washing machine versus the jooking board, she said jokingly.
Noel’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren spoil her.

“They love me evermore. When I go wrong, they tell me where I go wrong and we agree to it. We have a unity, a relationship of love as a family.”
Leon, who pastors a church, is amazed that there is life in her genetic line that is 99. She has asked God to give her grandmother even more years.
“She looks as though she is going to be here for another 30 years,” Leon said.
Noel will turn 100 on May 6 next year.

Leon also believes her grandmother’s secret to longevity is having a relationship with God and having made good decisions.
“She detoxed herself from the stresses that would have killed her. So...you listen and you obey and know when to end relationships that are unhealthy. And know when to treat with conflict. She is a very, very peaceful person.

“She would internalise a lot of things, but it comes from a place of wisdom. She does not feed into chaos and mayhem. She goes in the next direction. And to me, that is a recipe for longevity – living a peaceful life.”
Many people also ascribe long life and well-being to eating certain foods. Noel loves to cook, and makes the things she likes best like a “nice cowheel soup and all the nice things that have vitamins in it.”

For some, the idea of a long life, well-lived might seem daunting, especially when facing a pandemic. But her advice for coping is simple: “You just have to stay, watch, pray and go with the rules – which are very important – and trust the Lord for everything,” she said.
She said there might be things people might not like because they are not accustomed to them, but when one looks at the danger of covid19, “You have to obey.”

And Noel wants people to know, when the pandemic weighs heavily on you, wait, have patience, obey the rules and take it one day at a time.
Living a long and good life is simple in her view: first you pray and then, of course, you dance.