When you feel lonely and sad, you might need a nice, warm hug to cheer you up. But__41__ there is no one around to hug you? This is not a problem if you have a “hugging chair.” This type of chair is a rocking chair that has a large doll__42__into it. The doll resembles a woman in a funny hat, and it has extra-long arms that can wrap the person who is sitting in the chair. Although the chair can__43__ comfort for anyone, the Japanese company that designed it said it was meant__44__older people. About 25 percent of all Japanese people are over the age of 65. This number is likely to rise, and many older people __45__living alone. The hugging chair can help such people feel less lonely by hugging them and playing familiar music, which can be comforting for older people.

        Nola Ochs was born in Kansas in 1911. Her life was not extraordinary by most measures. She grew and married, had children and grandchildren, taught in rural schools, and lived the quiet Midwest life. But she was different in one notable way: After her husband died in 1972, Nola began taking classes and eventually earned her associate degree at age 77.

       “I still wanted to go to school. It was fun to go to classes. And if I had an assignment to do in the evening, that occupied my time in a pleasant way,” she recalled. After some years went by, Nola again got the bug to learn.

       Learning takes time, and moving through courses must be done on your own time, at your own pace. When Nola had 30 hours of school left to complete, she moved 100 miles away from her farm, got an apartment and attended classes in person. She graduated with her granddaughter in 2007.

      Nola could have been finished then with her long life of learning. She was, after all, 95 years young. Nola decided to keep going. She lived in the student dorms and got her master’s degree in liberal studies with an emphasis on history three years later, at age 98.

       A hundred years yields a lot of wisdom. But it’s the process that can teach us all. Learn everything you can. Share your crops with the neighbors. And never, never give up on yourself. At 105, Nola finished her memoir.