Fourth Quarter

The last time I wrote about a birthday I was sixty-five and I called it “The Last Birthday”. I wrote about the significant birthdays in our lives turning eighteen, then twenty-one, and finally sixty-five and what those milestones represented in our lives. I was looking forward to more birthdays. But now I’m rethinking this “Last Birthday” idea. It’s ten years later and I’m staring at seventy-five. These last ten years have brought retirement. We watched our four granddaughters grow up, now reaching teenage years. Maureen and I have taken some great trips and spent summers at the Jersey shore. We are healthy and active and think we look younger than those other seventy-five year olds. But life changes.

My two grandfathers died in their fifties. My father died suddenly at seventy-four. His two brothers and a sister died in their sixties. Maureen’s father suffered a stroke at seventy-four and lived another fifteen years confined to a wheelchair. Two guys in my golf group have died others are dealing with cancer, heart bypass surgery or bad falls. Some have wives who are also dealing with debilitating health issues. But there are many examples of great achievements after age seventy-five. Grandma Moses didn’t seriously start painting until she was seventy-eight. Mel Brooks who is ninety-nine was still creating movies and plays after he turned seventy-five. Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize at seventy-five. Yuichiro Miura was the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest at eighty. Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump were president after turning seventy-five. I’ll let you make up your own mind on how that worked out.

Age is state of mind. Sure things change. Some memory loss. I can’t remember names or where my glasses are or what Maureen said she just told me. Just as important is reading whether it’s novels or history or poetry. Keeping up with current events keeps us engaged. There is still time to enjoy life and create new memories. I always missed not knowing my grandfathers. It’s like a piece of my life that’s missing. That’s why we get so much joy watching our granddaughters grow up and discover life. I want them to have memories of us. I want them to have memories they can pass on to their children.

There are very different views on birthdays and growing older. Artist Norman Rockwell whose paintings celebrated life was not big on birthdays. He said, “I’m not going to be caught around here for any fool celebration. To hell with birthdays.” I think I agree with Emily Dickinson who said very elegantly, “We turn not older with years, but newer every day.”

I’ve been very lucky in life and looking forward to the fourth quarter. Isn’t that the most exciting part of the game?