There’s a sign in Colorado. It reads:
“Despite the High Cost of Living It Remains Popular.”
I couldn’t agree more. It’s quite popular with me, despite turning 78 in a few days. I hope this will allay any doubts younger readers have. I also hope word about this gets to Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel. He needs to know.
Several years ago he wrote in the Atlantic Monthly that he was OK with dying at 75.
Please note the wording “at 75.” Not “sometime after 75” or “around 75.” But “at 75,” as though life had a grocery store “sell by” date.
At the time he was about 18 years from turning 75. Perhaps that made it easy to say. Those who are in their 50s or younger are fine with dying around 70 because it’s not real. Kids in their teens think life is over at 30, earlier if they don’t become rock stars.
My feelings about his article were pretty strong. Only a few days from turning 75, I was concerned. Grim pictures were in my head. My last act might be blowing out the candles on my birthday cake.
Word from the Beyond
Now it’s three years later. That means I’m well beyond Dr. Emanuel’s suggested “sell by” date.
So consider this word from the beyond: Life is thoroughly worth living after 75.
This is an observation from my personal life laboratory. It is not a speculation. It’s an empirical fact. That makes it kind of important.
Here are just a few of the reasons to keep on keepin’ on.
— Our family future is still unfolding. In his article, Dr. Emanuel suggested he could pack it in at 75 because all his children would be married and his grandchildren would have been born.
But why stop there? All jokes aside, life doesn’t end with marriage.
I’m looking forward, next summer, to the wedding of our oldest granddaughter. I’d like to hang around for the wedding of the youngest one, too. Beyond that, I’d be delighted to meet our great-grandchildren. They are likely to be born after wedding ceremonies even if it bucks the trend. That could mean substantial delay. So I’m hoping to hang in there for another decade or longer.
— I’m only beginning to understand the wonder of being alive. I won’t say that the passion of youth is overrated — it’s not — but the subtlety and acuity that comes with maturity and experience is surprising and amazing. Who knew? Certainly, the 25-year-old me didn’t.
Instead of feeling the need to hungrily move on to the next experience, the next place, suddenly there seems to be enough in a moment to thrill for a lifetime. I don’t think I am the only old guy who feels at least a moment of ecstasy and utter gratitude for the amazing gift of life, every single day.
— New adventures await. One of the terrible myths of aging is that you get to be a certain age and it’s all over, nothing new happens. Worse, you’re so close to imagined death that people wonder why you would reupholster a sofa, let alone pack up and move.
It’s not that way. Not yet. It may happen, but it didn’t happen in 2018 and it’s not going to happen in 2019. The rule here is simple: You get a bigger view of life through the windshield than through the rearview mirror. So I’m going to keep looking through the windshield.
In a few weeks my wife and I will be closing on some land deeper into Texas Hill Country. Darker skies, brighter stars. Quite precisely in the middle of nowhere except for Dally’s Down Under Saloon a few miles away on Highway 290. Then we’ll start a complete remodel of an old mobile home and begin to learn about conservation, grasses, native plants and wildlife management.
I expect it will be tough on my tender typing fingers, but that’s a good thing.
Am I fortunate? You bet. Choices like this at 78 aren’t universal. Some don’t live this long. Others have lost their health. Some are seriously broke.
But some isn’t all — for many, many of us, life at this age is better than we ever imagined.
Honk if you’re with me.
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Why it’s a good thing to live beyond age 75,” 11/8/15
https://scottburns.com/why-its-a-good-thing-to-live-beyond-age-75/
Scott Burns, “Getting Ready for the Longevity Haul,” 11/9/13
https://scottburns.com/getting-ready-for-the-longevity-haul/
Scott Burns, “ The Amazing Half-Full Glass,” 11/07/10
https://scottburns.com/the-amazing-half-full-glass/
Sources and References:
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, “Why I hope to die at 75,” Atlantic Monthly, October, 2014
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/
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Photo: September 2018, in Chicago with Carolyn as grandson Nathan starts at Roosevelt University
(c) Scott Burns, 2018