Age is
strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't
matter.
Jack Benny
When you are on a long anticipated trip and its about two
thirds over, its a special moment when you can look both forward and backward in
time knowing you will have enough occasion to shape the remaining part of the
trip whist rehashing the experiences of the first two parts. And that’s how turning 70 feels to me,
wishing dearly that I will remain to see the light of day and that my age will find its way to approach triple digits.
Pleas'd to
look forward, pleas'd to look behind, and count each birthday with a grateful
mind.
Alexander Pope
I am long
on ideas, but short on time. I expect to live to be only about a hundred.
Thomas Alva Edison
This is of course was not the historical perspective as
preached by the Bible or by Mark Twain on his famous 70th birthday
speech. (and of course he had no idea
that his life would last only 4 ½ years longer). Taking those thoughts literally, I am to be
freed from any restraint in speech and behavior on the day on, and for those
that follow my 70th birthday landmark.
Psalm 90:10 King James Version
The
days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength
they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is
soon cut off, and we fly away.
And from Mark Twain; remarking on his 70th
birthday. Threescore years and ten! It is the Scriptural statute of limitations.
After that, you owe no active duties; for you the strenuous life is over. You
are a time-expired man, to use Kipling’s military phrase: You have served your
term, well or less well, and you are mustered out. You are become an honorary
member of the republic, you are emancipated, compulsions are not for you, not
any bugle-call but “lights out.” You pay the time-worn duty bills if you
choose, or decline if you prefer-and without prejudice-for they are not legally
collectable.
Alas few humans will admit that turning 70 is a welcome landmark.
Surely most of us would rather wallow eternally in the excesses of the 20’s and
30’s where anything in life is possible and even significant errors in judgment
can be rectified, injuries healed, all without permanent residua or
stigma. And maybe others would feel more
settled at 40 or 50 with a little grey, and the knowledge that they have proven
themselves worthy, reached their goals, created artwork or empires or
mechanical gismos or simply had a fulfilling relationship resulting in a
genetic legacy.
But empirically, turning 70 finds one breaking down mentally
and physically. Turning 70 means scary
times when the slightest ailment can turn into cancer, the slighted injury can
go unhealed, and the slighted chore can be a nightmare to complete. So why do I
exclaim that I have never been as happy in my life as I am NOW, at 69, only a
few months from turning 70.
Its that most mornings I wake up looking forward to the day.
My heart is light, and the day lies ahead with me placed squarely in the drivers
seat. Never before have I had such
freedom of movement and thought. There was always something I HAD to do. The
day disappeared, lost in the focus and dedication that was needed in fulfilling
task after task. Very seldom did I have
the freedom of doing anything just for me.
And when it came time for me to have my time, it felt rushed, fleeting
and incomplete. My life was structured,
busy, multidimensional, satisfying, important and all consuming. But my life passed me like a gust of wind,
directed and unstoppable, overpowering, fleeting and invisible.
Life is better now. I treasure most days unless something
goes wrong and I have to redirect my plans.
Most days I have so much time to think and plan and waste and nap and
eat and even enough time to get my work done.
Today is a good day. Tomorrow
will be an adventure.
I never have valued celebrating any event or occasion. I
never really had an official retirement party mostly because I pressed my work
friends to not plan one. I was really not good a remembering or celebrating birthdays
or wanting to take the effort to properly prepare for and celebrate Christmas
or Easter or even the 4th of July. If it weren’t for my wife, every day in my
married life would have been the same!
Things have changed and I now want to celebrate my 70th
birthday in November. I will have
several events to mark this day – one in Honolulu and one in New Jersey. The one on the East Coast is intended as a
proxy for getting my entire family together in one room - at a Lebanese
restaurant with my sisters and their families and even a belly dancer. I fear my sister’s age and want to get
together while we are still here on earth to enjoy each other’s company.
The event in Honolulu has another purpose. It is to truly celebrate the already spent
six decades of my life, including the fortunes and misfortunes, my health and
position, and the ever-present opportunities to enjoy new chapters in my life
which I hope is far from over. It is
also to send a message to my friends that there is life after work and that
everyone should consider some form of retirement before it’s too late to do
so. Of course, I will have to endure a
litany of roasting and outlandish comments that will be the highlight of the
evening’s entertainment. And for that
part, I look forward to hearing from my friends what embarrassing memories they
have dredged up from the deep recesses of their minds.
No one is
so old as to think he cannot live one more year.
Marcus T. Cicero
Dr.
Seuss on the golden age
The golden years have come at last,
Why don't I feel this is a blast?
I cannot see, I cannot pee.
I cannot chew. What can I do?
My memory shrinks. My hearing stinks.
No sense of smell..I look like hell.
My body's drooping, got trouble pooping.
And people ask, "Why am I stooping?"
The golden years have come at last.
The golden years can kiss my ass.
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