WEBVTT

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[Music]

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[Soft piano music]

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>>Like most of us, 

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I’m afraid of getting old 

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and of the loneliness 

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that seems to come with old age. 

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But maybe things don’t have to be that way. 

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Jordi is a young artist.

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>>Hello. Come in.

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>>And he lives in a unique old folk’s home 

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in the Netherlands.

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He paints and creates craft projects, 

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like this table he made from a piano crate.

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And you do that a lot with the residents; 

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you make crafts and things.

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>>Yeah. I try to do it.

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>>And is that a picture of your family?

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Can you show me? 

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>>My grandfather and my grandma 

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when I was younger.

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>>It’s adorable.

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>>Yeah. I love them.

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I love them a lot.

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>>Is it . . . 

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Is the relationship with your grandparents 

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that helps you be so good with the elderly here?

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>>I think also because they . . . 

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they teach me so much good things, 

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how to go around to people that uh  . . . 

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Yeah. Nah. Everything.

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>>Not long ago, 

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the Dutch senior citizens who live at Humanitas 

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invited Jordi and five other students 

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to move in rent-free.

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The students all told me that living here 

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is nothing like you’d expect.

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>>One of Jordi’s favorite ways 

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to spend time with his neighbors 

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is by taking them around the town of DeVanter 

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by a specialized tandem bicycle.

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It’s just one of the ways that Humanitas 

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tries to make life in its community 

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a little more fun.

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>>It was CEO’s Gea Sijpkes idea 

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to offer these students rooms at Humanitas.

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And all she asked in return 

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was that the students spend 

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at least 30 hours a month 

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acting neighborly to the senior residents.

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Jurrien Mentink says that Humanitas’ offer 

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couldn’t have come at a better time.

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Many Dutch students 

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in and around Amsterdam today 

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can’t find a room to rent at all. 

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>>Now I have to cook dinner.

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>>Yes.

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>>Jurrien is 22 years old, 

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and his neighbors, like Joke Van Beek, 

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are in their 80’s and 90’s.

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Despite the age gap, 

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Jurrien and Joke’s friendship is a dynamic 

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that often seems like it’s between two teenagers.

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>>Friendships like this one 

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are exactly what Humanitas is trying to nurture.

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How Jurrien spends his 30 hours a month 

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of service is up to him.

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His official title isn’t staff or volunteer.

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It’s good neighbor.

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>>At Humanitas, 

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good neighbor somehow means being part local, 

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part friend, 

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part grandchild, 

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part social worker, 

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part healthcare provider, 

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and some days it means teaching 

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an 84-year-old woman to play beer pong.

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[Rock music]

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>>I noticed early on that the students here 

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often talk with a sort of calm beyond their years.

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They don’t often seem much of a hurry.

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Jurrien says that is one of the most 

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important life lessons 

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the students have learned 

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from their elderly neighbors.

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The students all talk about Mrs. Hofsteede 

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as a role model 

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for living a full and happy life in later years.

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She moved in a few years ago.

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She lives on the seventh floor 

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in a spacious room overlooking the park, 

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and she says she feel younger 

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than her 88 years.

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>>Hello.

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>>At lunch time, the most social time, 

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every day at Humanitas, 

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Mrs. Hofsteede always sits at the same table.

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You see, the Humanitas dining room 

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is a lot like a high school cafeteria.

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Mrs. Hofsteede is quite popular, 

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and so she always sits 

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with the other popular girls, 

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like her best friend Antonia, 

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whose nickname is “the trash compacter.”

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>>Appetite. 

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>>Yeah? 

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>>I like that.

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>>And like high school, 

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lunchtime is when the rumor mill 

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really starts to turn.

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Outside of the time they volunteer, 

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the students are free to live 

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without any special restrictions,

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going out or bringing people home 

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just as they like.

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>>And there’s a lot more flirting 

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that goes on than I expected to find 

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in an old folk’s home.

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>>The students all like 

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teaching their senior neighbors a lesson 

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from time to time.

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Everything Mrs. Middelburg knows 

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about the internet she learned from Jurrien.

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>>But Jurrien says that none of this feels 

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like some community service.

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He and Mrs. Middelburg just like hanging out.

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>>And how do Jurrien's own family 

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feel about him living here at Humanitas?

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His parents have been as surprised 

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as he has been to find that Jurrien 

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seems very happy here indeed.

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>>There is, of course, 

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the unavoidable loneliness 

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that accompanies dementia.

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The dementia ward is equipped 

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with everything you could expect.

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But it has little of the warmth 

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of the rest of the residents.

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Jordi feels an added responsibility 

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to help those suffering dementia.

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>>Lucius is this man’s stage name, 

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but I was never given another one, 

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and I never got the chance to ask.

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We didn’t get to talk for very long.

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Lucius lost the ability to talk much 

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about the here and now.

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>>I saw in Lucius immediately 

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the kind of kindred spirit, 

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and it was like a glimpse of a possible future self

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set adrift in my own fading memories.

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Having exchanged barely a word with him, 

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meeting Lucius affected me a great deal.

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The hardest thing about living here, 

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old or young, 

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is how often death comes to call.

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Some of the seniors are still racked 

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with intense longing for lost loved ones.

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While many others, like Mrs. Middelburg, 

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seem almost unfazed by the realities of death.

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A few of the students had never seen death 

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up close before living here.

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For them, facing death has been the hardest 

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and maybe most valuable lesson 

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that Humanitas has taught them.

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Jurrien is about to graduate 

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from a degree in urban planning, 

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but he is now considering devoting his career 

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to old age care instead.

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No matter which direction 

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he chooses from here, 

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Jurrien won’t forget the importance 

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of being a good neighbor, 

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like he has been to Joke Van Beek.

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That day he told me 

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that he had started to see the signs 

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of Joke slipping away, 

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and then only a few weeks later, 

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Joke passed on.

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And I know that Jurrien has missed her 

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since she’s been gone.

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It took me a litttle while to grab hold 

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of what makes this place different 

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than anywhere else I’ve been.

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Humanitas hasn’t somehow 

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cut out the hard realities of aging.

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It’s just that it lets so much more than that 

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through its front door.

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As I went to say goodbye 

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on the last day of my visit, 

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I passed by the weekly wheelchair dance recital.

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[Clapping and music] 

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This was the other moment 

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that really stayed with me.

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[Upbeat Dutch music] 

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Again, I could see myself 

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reflected back years on from now, 

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and for that moment, 

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I really didn’t mind the idea of getting old.

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[Upbeat Dutch music] 

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