Sunday, July 17, 2011

impending




 
i turn 60 two weeks from today.
i slide between amusement and dismay.
i did not expect to live this long,
i have but few words left for this song.
i turn 60 two weeks from today.


If I knew I was going to live this long, 
I'd have taken better care of myself.
  Mickey Mantle

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
Seneca

Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week.
Louis Kronenberger 

13 comments:

  1. I don't really think of 60 as being that old anymore...

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  2. cc-i don't think of it as old, either. that may be why i'm so surprised at getting there.

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  3. My beloved Granny was 52 when I was born. Looking at the photos of her holding infant me, she is an old lady. She didn't wear the witchy shoes we've laughed about - she actually had a weakness for pretty shoes - but she was old. 8 years later, when she was 60, she was oldER. Still frisky in her head, but old and dignified and she didn't do some things she'd done when she was younger. She was still capable of doing them. She decided to forego them due to her age.

    I look at the pictures of you and I taken 2 days ago. We're not old. I'm only a year behind you. We look good, we're active, we're not finished becoming everything we can be. Of course, some of it is societal, but some of it is about who we are as individuals. Here's to youthfulness, no matter what the package may look like!

    True anecdote: when I worked with a gang of young men, one of them was particularly attached to me and we talked about a lot of things. He said, often: "You're so cool. I always forget you're old." Well. Thanks, home dude.

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  4. lm-i decided quite a while ago that dignity has escaped me, at any age, and that age was not to be the decider of the activities i want to do. except for maybe bungee jumping. of course, i didn't want to do that when i was 25 either.
    and yeah, i've gotten that "cool and old" assessment myself. just another example of folks letting their unexamined belief systems limit their perception.

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  5. You're right, age shouldn't get in the way of living your life.

    That's what money, or the lack thereof, is for.

    I like the brilliant reds in those photos.

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  6. Across the Great Divide! And what a way to go, in flaming red (my favorite color).

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  7. Tuesday's are nice days for a birthday, I've always thought. nothing much ever happens on a Tuesday. But if your birthday is on a Tuesday than it will be a nice day. probably.

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  8. kirk-neither should money, or the perceived lack thereof, get in the way. red is good, isn't it?

    okatb-the great divide? is that like the river styx? hope not, at least not yet. what is it with red?

    tag-sorry, hon, my birthday's on a sunday. another day when not much happens, unless you make it. just like all the others. :)

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  9. Well you have to change it to Tuesday. Cuz that's what I wrote on my calendar with a sharpie. We never let the facts get in the way of anything; Especially Birthdays.

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  10. tag-nothing says i can't celebrate as long as i want, so we'll just extend the whole birthday deal thru the month of august! how's that?

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  11. All right, you two. But what about those who actually celebrate an August birthday (ahem)?

    WV-entiatte. I'll take a venti. Hot, not iced.

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  12. lm-gee, is there someone among us who does that? *grin* guess we'll have to share!

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