Seventy

Five years ago I wrote that sixty-five was everyone’s last birthday. You enter the 65+ category and you’re just one of the millions of baby boomers who are parents of adult children and grandparents. Your adult children will eventually start treating you like a child and your grandchildren will grow bored rather than excited when they visit. But I would now argue, that I’m turning seventy, that birthdays that end in zero have a special significance. Kids get exited when they turn ten, double digits, and they have many more ahead. Birthdays that end in zero are more special than all the others. You’ve completed another decade. Birthdays marking another decade sound better. They can be expressed in one word. Even seventy sounds better than sixty-nine. Birthdays ending in nine are the worst. It’s as if you’re waiting to be accepted into a new club, but you’re just not big enough. When we were kids, we always wanted to hang out with the big kids.

By most generous definitions, middle age ends at sixty-five. So seventy means you’re officially old. Even kids can see it. One of my granddaughters who turned seven last week knew my birthday was coming up. She and her sister asked how old I was going to be. I told her just add a zero after her seven. They looked surprised and laughed. Another granddaughter has reminded me several times about my bald spot that she has cheerfully pointed out from the backseat of the car. I take some comfort that I am the second youngest in my golf group. I’m playing with guys in their mid-seventies. There is a lot of talk about aging, joint replacements, and what they’re having for dinner. Even though I’m now considered old, I will admit that old people can be the worst. They can be entitled, impatient, cranky, opinionated, slow moving, and think they are smarter than young people who don’t have the wisdom of life they have acquired.

I was born when Truman was president. We were in the middle of the Korean War. Television was a new thing. Dr. Fauci was only ten. He had just celebrated his first zero birthday. Advances in science and medicine have helped us live longer and healthier. As we get older, we look back on our lives. I’ve been lucky to have been married to the love of my life for forty-five years. We raised two sons who married strong woman who have families of their own and gave us four granddaughters. We had our good times and tough times like everyone else. But we’re all happy and healthy. You can’t ask for more than that.

You can achieve things in your seventies. John Glenn went back into space when he seventy-seven. Irish race car driver Rosemary Smith became the oldest person to drive a Formula 1 car at seventy-nine. We even had two men in their seventies run for president. I’m not thinking about going into space, driving that fast, though I wish I could when I get behind an old person in the passing lane, or running for president. We can’t always control the physical part of aging, but a positive outlook can help us get through to that next birthday. Actress Emma Thompson, who’s only sixty-one, so what does she know, does have a good suggestion. “The trick is to age honestly and gracefully and make it look great, so that everyone looks forward to it.” So, seventy is looking better already.