A Dallas woman is proving that age is no barrier to staying active. Joan Eichner celebrated her 100th birthday last week, surrounded by friends at the Moody Family YMCA in the University Park neighborhood of Dallas, where she’s been a familiar face for three decades. Eichner first joined the YMCA 30 years ago after moving to North Texas to help care for her grandchildren. Around that time in her 70s, she learned how to swim — something that would later become a cornerstone of her fitness routine. Today, she still attends the Y’s aqua fitness classes at least three times a week. She says the exercise keeps her healthy, but the community keeps her coming back. “I love the water, but I love the friendships. We sit here in the corner in the morning after we have been in the pool. We drink coffee, and we talk,” she said. Eichner says her secret to longevity comes down to two things. “I often say wine and chocolates. But my daughters said, don’t say that today, you’re at the YMCA!” she joked. She added, “When you don’t want to get out of bed in the morning, get up, keep going. That’s the best thing I can say.” Her daughter, Deborah Eichner, says that an active mindset has defined her mother’s life. “This is how she lives her life. She has a plan for every day for what she wants to do. It may be we go to the arboretum, it may be we come to the Y, it may be we do something with her church, she’s active in projects. But every day she wakes up, and she has things that she wants to do,” she said. Along with her workout routine, Eichner volunteers at her church every month and believes staying active keeps her motivated. ...read more read less