AUGUST 7, 2019 – Today I turn 65. Readers older than I have standing to agree or disagree with the observations and resolutions I’m about to make. People under 65 will be left to wonder . . . until they’re 65.
65 is when I qualify for Medicare and a net savings of $500/mo. in health care insurance premiums.
65 is when I’m not going to retire—so that I can stay engaged in the “marketplace,” mixing with all-comers, most of whom are younger than I and full of ideas and energy.
65 is when I find myself channeling my long-gone elders, exhibiting their foibles, impatience, eccentricities, idiosyncrasies, and unfiltered expression—all of which become accentuated in old age. Thus, 65 is when I try hard not to be as my elders became.
65 is when I want to ask more questions.
65 is when I want to give more encouragement and inspiration to the people around me.
65 is when I worry I’ll slow down faster, so I walk faster to slow down the slowdown.
65 is when I cherish what I have and relinquish regret over what I don’t have.
65 is when I realize happiness is here and now, not somewhere else and later.
65 is when I take stock of my wealth and find that 99.99% of it is invested in the right places: my relationships and interactions with other people.
65 is when I want to read more books and hear less “news.”
65 is when I want to take the time to learn about stuff that heretofore passed me by or that I passed by.
65 is when I know what I’m talking about only when I know I don’t know what I’m talking about.
65 is when I see all of earth as home and all of the universe as my neighborhood.
65 is when I realize my first impressions of my grandparents date to when the old folks were younger than 65.
65 is when I Google “median age, Americans” and “median age, world population” and learn the numbers are “38.1” and “29.6” respectively.
65 is when I’m glad my wife, two older sisters and in-laws are older than I, because all are going strong.
65 is when I’m glad I have older friends who think and move as if they’re younger than I.
65 is when I’m glad one sister is younger to make me walk faster.
65 is when I eat more broccoli and less butter.
65 is when I’m glad I didn’t get hooked on tobacco when I was 15.
65 is when I want to find a bottle of beer I can finish.
65 is when I want to be kinder, more considerate, more selfless, more engaged.
65 is when I want to wish big wishes and blow out all the candles on the cake.
65 is when I want to smile at the sun, the stars, the moon—and at everyone who walks into my life.
© 2019 Eric Nilsson
