{"id":3130,"date":"2019-08-23T06:38:45","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T11:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=3130"},"modified":"2019-08-23T06:38:45","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T11:38:45","slug":"when-im-64-sheesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/when-im-64-sheesh\/","title":{"rendered":"When I’m 64… Sheesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I could be handy, mending a fuse
\nWhen your lights have gone
\nYou can knit a sweater by the fireside
\nSunday mornings, go for a ride
\nDoing the garden, digging the weeds
\nWho could ask for more?<\/em><\/p>\n

Will you still need me, will you still feed me
\nWhen I’m sixty-four?<\/em><\/p>\n

When I\u2019m Sixty-Four \u2014 The Beatles, from \u201cMagical Mystery Tour<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I have long anticipated poaching those lyrics on this day, though I haven\u2019t been in a hurry to arrive here. No sense rushing matters. But today, Aug. 23, I turn 64. To continue lyrical larceny, what a long strange trip it\u2019s been.<\/p>\n

Sixty-four. Jeez. To quote Mae West, Eubie Blake and Mickey Mantle, who all used this line: \u201cIf I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.\u201d My Beautiful Mystery Companion keeps looking at me quizzically. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be how<\/em> old next birthday?\u201d For years she thought I was born in 1953, not 1955, which if accurate meant turning 64 would have long passed. When I mentioned I would go on Medicare next year, she gasped. As she likes to say, she is a lot<\/em> younger than me. Thirty months, to be precise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Other than turning the age of a famed Beatles song, I don\u2019t really feel any different, physically or mentally. Mainly I feel blessed to still have attributes that keep me feeling young \u2014 good health, insatiable curiosity about the world, an addiction to rigorous exercise, and a joy in waking up each morning and wondering what the day will bring.<\/p>\n

Still, when I wake up at sunrise and stumble into the bathroom, grab my toothbrush and look in the mirror \u2014 sheesh. Who is that wild, gray-haired, bloodshot-eyed old man in the mirror? The solution came quickly. Don\u2019t look in the mirror until having showered, shaved and tamed the hair \u2014 and then only briefly.<\/p>\n

One thing that has changed in the past few years is a sense of enjoying each day and not looking forward to something happening down the road. For example, I don\u2019t enjoy summer in East Texas. I don\u2019t like hot weather because I love to be outdoors. The heat doesn\u2019t stop me from going outside and working on our yard or house \u2014 or slogging away at the CrossFit gym when the workout is outside. But I dislike the oppressive heat, always have. I used to think. about the time of my birthday each year, \u201cI can\u2019t wait until fall arrives, when the air is crisp and the dew is heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think that way anymore, because the number of autumns that lie ahead are far fewer than the autumns that have passed. Again, there is no sense in rushing matters. As I walk out the door each morning just after sunrise, our old dog Sam straining at the leash to begin the highlight of his<\/em> day, I take in the beauty of the morning, no matter the weather \u2014 the sunlight filtering through the leaves, the coo of the mourning doves, the smell of pine needles, the cotton-candy clouds peeking over the hill as Sam and I trudge up the hill.<\/p>\n

Right now, Sam and I are essentially the same age \u2014 he\u2019s 11 and a medium-sized dog; my Google research confirms his \u201chuman\u201d age. Sam still gets along pretty well thus far, healthy and eager to chase a squirrel or gobble the husk of a locust, which are strewn about the streets this time of year. I guess they\u2019re like pork rinds to a dog.<\/p>\n

So this day will be as most. I will doubtless annoy my BMC by singing the stanza to that Beatles song far too often. The gym workout likely will include the birthday tradition of whoever shows up doing Burpees to mark my age, much as the UT cheerleaders perform flips to mark the total Longhorn points after every score. I will not be the most popular person in the gym today if that occurs. I\u2019ll come home, shower, and then begin working in front of the computer screen on one of the various projects that keep my mind engaged, and perhaps make a bit of money. Maybe a little yard work, then a plunge into the pool.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ll say a prayer of gratitude for having reached this milestone in far better condition \u2014 in faith, physically, mentally, financially and surrounded by loved family and friends \u2014 than I deserve.<\/p>\n

What a long, strange but lovely trip it indeed has been.<\/p>\n

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