I don’t know about you, but I am not as old as the calendar suggest. At least that is what I tell myself. My joints often suggest otherwise, especially after what used to be easy activities, like all those things that I didn’t worry about in my younger years. Our age is just a number after all. It is what we do with our time, at whatever age we may be, that is important.
How did this happen? Well, time did not stand still folks. Time is relentless in its march. It is up to us to use it wisely. The trick is to take the time to, well, embrace whatever we are doing in the present and think about how we may use our future time going forward. We have to find a way to keep up and not worry about that darn calendar so much.
As for worrying about that number (our age), my Mama stopped aging after her 39th birthday. It so happened that I asked how old she was that faithful year. In a “matter of fact tone” she said that she had reached Jack Bennie’s age (39). Jack had famously proclaimed that he was forever 39. Mama declared that if it was good enough for Jack, it was good enough for her. We never stopped tracking that year and Mama lived just shy of the 39th anniversary of her 39th birthday. I recently celebrated the 31st anniversary of my 39th birthday, in honor of my Mama. Our baby daughter Paula turned 39 on the birthday we share, so she is now ageless.
Now, enough of that! The question becomes, “So What?” I hope that I have a couple of years left on this earth. Should I or you relegate our remaining time to just getting older, or do we find something else to do with our time. You know, that list of things that we always wanted to do when we didn’t have the time to do them. Holding a job does that, but whether you are retired, as I am trying to be, or still working, there is always time to do something that brings you joy.
Bottom line is that your age does not preclude you starting to do those things that you never had time to do. Mary and I have encountered a number of friends over the years that spent their “golden” years doing wonderful things. A painting of an American White Pelican hangs above the mantel of our fireplace. It was painted at our request from a photo by a 80-year-old lady named Muddy, who self-taught herself to paint at the age of 76.
My friend Charlie Brenke had several lives after he retired, first from the Navy, then from a local shipyard, only to spend the last 30 years of his life doing the things he loved. He was a skilled birder, gardener, carpenter, beekeeper, mushroom expert, and storyteller extraordinaire. Charlie once told me that he had no sympathy for anyone whining about being bored. His response was – “If you can’t’ find something interesting to do every day, you should just roll over and die!” He lived to celebrate the 51st anniversary of his 39th birthday. I think of him often, but I am never bored!
So, forget that number and find something new to do at whatever your age. You have time to start anything you want to try. Be like Ms. Muddy and Charlie. Live your life to its fullest and have some fun. For me, my number one goal is to stay retired and say no to the things that keep me from my list. For my wife Mary, it is pottery. We have a kiln and I am her loader and mule for those 50-lb boxes of clay. Pray for me!
Besides, the internet recently declared that 65 was the new middle age. I can live with that!
