OK, I’m Eighty-Something

To be more precise, I’m 84 +. 

Up to now, I haven’t thought much about it. But, somehow, over the past year or so, while I don’t dwell on it, it comes to mind. 

Come to think about it, we don’t suddenly get old. Yet many of us suddenly realize that we’ve gotten old, or at least older.  I won’t attempt to explain how or why it dawns on us. It’s likely different for everyone. 

Probably, most of us don’t really object to getting old. After all, it simply happens. What we resist is accepting what getting old does – or may do – to us. In many ways, this resistance is good. For instance, most of us recognize that aging is causing our roles to change. We’re less frequently relied upon to do things that we did in the past.  Given this, we are free to develop new activities and develop new capabilities. The door’s open. And it’s best that we walk through! 

Contrary to the commonplace image of what it’s like to be a “senior citizen,” there are a number of folks who have realized their greatest achievements after many of us are considering – or have commenced -  our retirement. 

Here are some examples: 

Grandma Moses began her painting career in her late 70s. after arthritis made embroidery difficult.  She became popular after turning 90 and continued painting up to her death at age 101, by which time she had painted more than 1,500 canvasses. That’s roughy 150 a year!

Diana Nyad, the long-distance swimmer, swam 110 miles from Cuba to Florida. She failed to compete the same swim several times before. She was 64 when she finally made it. Took her 53 hours, non-stop.

A Sicilian surveyor on the Italian railway system, Giuseppe Paternò, enrolled at 93 to earn an undergraduate degree in philosophy and history. In three years, just shy of his 97th birthday, he graduated - at the top of his class.

Mother Theresa received the Nobel Peace Prize at age 69.

Benjamin Franklin was 70 when he signed the Declaration of Independence. 

At the age of 81, Lew Hollander completed the annual Ford Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. The Ironman competition involves a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon run.

And then there’s Virginia Oliver, Maine’s famed “Lobster Lady,” who after 91 years of lobstering, routinely takes her own boat out at 4 AM, three days a week during the season. As I write this, she’s now 104. She usually takes her son out with her to “learn the ropes.” He’s 81.

And, perhaps not as famous, my mother purchased a Miata convertible when she was 84, and drove it well into her 90s.

We’re not all cut out to show amazing physical prowess in our advancing years. But, for most of us, there are a raft of things to do - with both mind and body – that we’ve not yet attempted. Some may not prove to be roaring successes. But others just might. 

Truly, as Frank Sinatra famously sang, "The best is yet to come!"

PS . A good book read dealing with this general subject is Arthur Brooks’ From Strength to Strength.