It is a warm, loving account by a 72-year-old university professor of psychobiology and clinical psychologist seeking what his 100-year-old lifelong friend has so that he can live as long and be as happy as she is. The author, like Violet, has experienced deep pain, both physical and emotional.
Violet's seven lessons are:
*Start with gratitude, humor and an unquenchable curiosity
*It's not what happens that counts, it's how you take it
*If you can't fight and you can't flee, flow
*Praise the Lord
*Be well in the self
*Focus on what the essentials of happiness are
*Be a good person to live a long, happy life (and to die well)