When Age Is Really A Number

"Age is just a number", we often  hear.  Sometimes it is  simple bravado, sometimes it is merely a way to think positively, or often a way for folks to brush off the accepted meaning of old age and the inevitable realization that there is little we can do about getting old. If there is anything we could do  at all, it is to ignore the dreaded calendar.  After all, it is just one  out of every 365-calendar days of the year that seems to be a source of prickly annoyance, once we get past the 40th anniversary of what is a yearly recurring milestone of our existence. 

Corollary to "age is just a number" thing, we've managed to redefine or move the markers by saying, 50 is the new 40. Last I heard, 60 is the new 50.  People are living longer, so others make it conceivable to think 70 "ain't so bad".  Clearly, George Burns, Betty White attested to that and now Clint Eastwood is proving that there is still a good chunk of "Dirty Harry" in him at 92. Meanwhile, Dick Van Dyke who was born on Dec. 13, 1925, still goes to the gym, and still does a slow motion version of a scene from Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang.  Just think, in three years Dick Van Dyke will hold a rare 3-digit age code - 100!  A 2-digit age code that begins at 9 is huge enough and those already at the 7 or 8 age codes are  a 3-generational phenomenon by themselves. Those are celebrities, of course, but we know there are a lot more out there - ordinary folks who get well past beyond the minimum 3-digit age code.

Now, we may have to switch to, "Age is truly a number".  Why?  Well,  the cartoon below, far from a denial, it is actually a resolute response without denying the number.

(Caption): "I used to be old, too, but it wasn't my cup of tea".

If the desire is to live longer, or even just long enough, it is best to have accumulated a number or the number, which means this: each morning that we wake up, realizing we are able to get up, and we do indeed, then get to spend the day, productively or not, watch or at least imagine another sunset, have another dreamy or dreamless night, and to wake up again into another morning, the numbers add up.  The higher that number becomes, the longer we've held on to the ticket to long life, which is to grow old. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

The road to living longer is paved with time, but there is no short cut.  We sometimes encounter a detour, a rerouting, a temporary rest stop, but for as long as the journey continues, expect that with each mile covered, the numbers add up and we want to stay on that road, where ever it leads. George Burns said it best,

"I'm very pleased to be here. Let's face it, at my age I'm very pleased to be anywhere".

Oh, but to be young again! Really? Unless one inherited oodles and oodles of money at birth, there is little of it among the young.  Compound interest only works with time.  99% of the time the number (i.e. savings, 401Ks, etc.) that matters is directly proportional to how much time there was to get to it  and to get to it is a matter of how much we've aged.  So, clearly, age is really a number. 

If time waits for no one, you don't want to be left behind.  You may choose not to board the train but you  have already paid for the ticket.  You might as well enjoy the ride; and the conversation with fellow passengers. At this point in your lives you have quite a glossary of topics to sustain conversation after conversation in the medical field.  If you are not in search of a cure you are dispensing it. You are past talking about replacing the old dishwasher or washing machine, and clearly your bodies have far more mileage than your cars. You no longer worry about the car battery. The question is remembering when  your pacemaker will need one.  You still know your ABC's but you are a lot more conversant about COPD. You used to be hip among friends when it came to Rock and Roll and Boogie Woogie.  Now, you are thinking about getting new Teflon-lined stainless steel hips .  Just kidding.  Let's keep on with the numbers.

Life, at this point, is all about accumulating as many more sunrises and sunsets and enjoying what's in between, including the not-so-obligatory nap in the afternoon. Hobbies do not have deadlines.  Speed reading is not required because a good book must be read slowly. Slow-cooked meals are tastier and more tender and energy saving.  Not from the cooking but from physical energy saved from not having to exert too much in chewing.

Know this too. We make note of celebrities getting into their nineties but here is a short list of ordinary people who are still living at 108: Dorothy Sellers of Freeport, Long Island, NY; Carmen Slough, Arizona; Beatrice Chieko Muranaka, Hawaii;  Ireland's oldest living woman, Mairin Hughes; WWII veteran Chester Edgar Wilson, KY; Ron Schwartz, WI; and on and on.  By the way, that is just those at a specific age of 108, not counting those at between 101 and 107, and many past that.

So, we shouldn't dread The Number. We should embrace it. Ignore the past because there is absolutely nothing that we could do there; the future is where we will be spending the rest of our lives.