No, I’m not out of my mind, and I am talking to you. I can’t help myself – I just want all of my friends and family to stay as healthy as possible. I didn’t give exercise the credit it deserved for helping until I got older, and many of my age mates/friends didn’t as well.

I have only six or seven close friends who are enjoying gift years beyond their mid-80s.  What do we have in common with each other that helps to answer the question why? The only thing I could come up with is an active/physical life style. We are all still active, both physically and mentally.

We have aches, pains, and handicaps that we mitigate the best we can and just handle the ones we can’t. We don’t complain because no one wants to be around someone who complains a lot. It doesn’t help, anyway.

Built into our daily routine, we have all done things that have kept us moving. Two of the ladies started aerobic workouts when they were in their 50s and are doing as much as they’re able in their late-80s. Several go to a personal trainer twice a week and have for 35 years. All of us have had severe physical and mental trauma in our lives and believe we survived mainly because our bodies and minds were in good shape for our age. Two among my small group of friends just recovered from Covid-19 at age 86.

I’m going to use myself as an example, but realize all of us are the same, we just have different life challenges. I get up in the morning and put on my glasses so I can see well enough to find my hearing aids. Next, I lay down on the floor and do a combination of a yoga, stretching, Pilates, and a dumbbell workout. It takes an hour; I do these four times a week. Daily, I talk a half-mile walk with my walker, because I have numb feet and a bad back. I do this twice or three times a day, as time allows.

When the pandemic arrived in March of 2020, I couldn’t go to 24-hour Fitness. It was closed. I had a Concept II rowing machine in storage that I had used to train for my kayak trip down the coast of Baja in 1991. It was too long to fit in my room so I put it in the garage where it fits just fine, plus it’s available 24/7. Then I bought a Total Gym machine; it fits in my room. I work on them four times a week. Now, I have no reason to have a gym membership. I can do everything at home that I did in the gym. When I travel, I work out in the pool. My pool routine takes one hour.

None of my friends have the time or inclination to work out two hours a day, like I do, but they all do some exercise most every day. It’s working, we are all still active and mobile. Because I love you all, I have a favor to ask of all of my readers. Please exercise at least 30 minutes a day. I don’t want to be the last one standing. It’s lonely at the top.

   

Enjoy Every Day. Open Every Door. Try Everything. You Can Do It.         

                                                                                   

Talking to my friends that are well along the road, shall we say to Act #3, also known as the “Golden Years” of their lives, the topic of conversation often turns to, “What can we do that is worthwhile”, in our remaining years. We looked forward to retirement and now we have it. We’re still alive, healthy and bored. Most of us travel for a while but can only be unproductive so long before we start wondering why we are here.

If you create an honest list of the things you can still do, at least semi-competently, it will be a lot shorter than the one you could have made at the age of 45, but it will still be a list. You still have options. Looking at the list, rank them in order to which ones you would most like to be involved in now, and go for it.

I had to do this at age 80 when my wife lost her fight with cancer. The plans we had made together were now non-existent. For about a year I was at a loss as to where I was going or what I would do if I got there. I made a list. It was short. The item on the top was to stay in contact with my family as much as possible. Our pandemic has made that hard but I do the best I can.

The second on the list was to write. I have published three books so far and several short ones. I now have a path. I’m not a great writer but it’s OK; I’m not great at anything anymore, however, I am a happy person that knows he has something to do. I hope my readers find the tips I sneak in on being positive in all you do and to learn from everything you do to be worthwhile.

I love being a grandpa and a great-grandpa. I have had the joy of watching my 11 grandchildren grow into strong upright individuals, all very different and that makes each one of them very special. I would like to share what they have become as adults. Please tolerate an old man as he brags a little. Some of their occupations include lab technician manager, urban tree specialist, computer programmer, tattoo artist, hair stylist, engineers – good jobs in varied fields. The only problem is they are now adults and not inclined to sit on my lap. But it’s OK because they have given me, so far, nine great-grandchildren to take their places.

I love being the elder in my family. I get to love them all and have no responsibility. I used to help them do things. Now they all are there to help me do things.

I do my best to be like Clint Eastwood. When he was asked how he kept so active at age 88, he said, “I shut the door tight and don’t let the old man in.” Keep your door closed, remember that getting old will happen, if you are lucky, but being old is a mental state of mind. Don’t let it happen to you.