The future is now
Marty: “It means your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has! Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one!”
I remember the day it happened. I got a letter in the mail. I was expecting it but dreading it for many years. I knew my past would catch up with me. I pretended it would not come. My wife knew about it. I couldn’t keep it from her. She had accepted it and when we got married, she insisted it was not a problem. My parents were no longer alive so the impact on them would not be felt. I was ambivalent about it. I didn’t know how it would change my life, so many years later. All I had built and accomplished was something I was proud of and I swore I would not let it diminish me or throw me into a deep depression.
I had gotten my Medicare card. That was May 1, 2018.
I was still three months away from turning 65 but THEY send it to you early. Not sure if it’s for record-keeping or if they just like to mess with your head.
So, let’s assess where some of you are at, turning 65 soon and where I was…and still am. At 65, my Dad played tennis regularly, bowled, enjoyed his martinis, and was in decent health. I was 35 at the time and he was my role model for what 65 was like. Not too shabby.
I still ski every year. I play golf when it’s not too hot and not too pricey. I am about 6 lbs. off my mark, having dropped 20 in the past 18 months, but I enjoy my martinis. Like my dad, I travel and am excited about the journeys that lie ahead. The past 4 years have included a colonoscopy, hernia surgery, an endoscopy, and a clean bill of health on my cancer treatments from 2014. Like my dad, not too shabby.
So 65 really is just a number. Someone once asked feminist Gloria Steinem what it felt like to be 50. She said: “I don’t know. What’s 50 supposed to feel like?”
But it did get me thinking. How many good years are left? The golf, the traveling, the martinis, and the dodging the bullet. I’d say 17-20. In Yiddish, we call that a Kanehara; a curse. Don’t tempt fate they say!
Well, not sure I believe in curses or divine intervention. We roll the dice when we’re born and it’s a virtual crapshoot that no one in their right mind would place a bet on.
It certainly is a mind game but it’s not a prognosis of what’s to come.
It’s just a number.
Since I’ve hit that milestone, and 70 looms, what do I have planned? Will I get my eyes done? No. My wife spent all the money on a facelift. Travel? Brazil to London next year. Year after? Another trip.
I think if we set our own milestones for life, it keeps us from death or at least thinking about it. If we have things to look forward to, we look forward to insuring we get there.
So if 65 is now in your rearview mirror or on the horizon…REPEAT AFTER ME: It’s just a number.
To quote Ellis ‘Red’ Redding, ”Get busy living or get busy dying.”
We do have a choice.
Another great musing, Barry! With 70 in my rear view, I think about much of the same. I do know I’m in better health and better shape than I have been in over 20 years and I’m enjoying life immensely these days. I agree that it’s absolutely just a number - no matter what # it is. 💕
I just started Medicare on June 1st. It is a relief not having to pay for my old health insurance premium! I got a raise. Now to spend it on growth factor injections in my knees! Ouch.