I Am Having a Party...
02/09/2007
Today begins my 64th year on the planet. This is hard for me to fathom, and at the same time it is not. I am having the time of my life just living it. One of my sales reps refers to this as “Living the Dream.” For me, it’s just Another Day in Paradise.
I believe I have mentioned a book by Gail Sheehy that she wrote in 1976 entitled “Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life.” I think this should be a must read for everyone. In it Sheehy says the decade of one’s fifties is the most contented of one’s life. I agree totally with her assessment, for I was very content while in my fifties. I find these days my sixties are an added bonus to that contentment. I have to say I am happier now than I was last year and the year before that and the year before that, and so on…ad infinitum. This is now and yesterday is over.
Not long ago The Nancy showed me an Outback Steakhouse ad in the newspaper. I really don’t quite remember what the ad said, but I assume the basis of it was “Eat at Outback.” What stood out, and what I remember most, is the part in it about the Australian aborigines which said the aborigines did not have words in their language for “the past or the future.” I suppose that is because of life in the Australian Outback was so very harsh they really didn’t have time to dwell on what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow. Life was hard and they had to live in the “today.” What a concept, eh? Living your life without looking over your shoulder at what was or at the baggage you drag behind you. Living in the ‘now,” being in the moment, that is what life is about, isn’t it?
Anyhow, (God, can I pontificate or what?) that is the way it is for me these days. It comes from attitude, I suppose. Everyday is a party. I cannot be concerned with the past, and as I progress in age I can’t be too concerned with the future. The future will be what it will be. This doesn’t mean I don’t plan ahead. Retirement scares the hell out of me. But I will not base my future on hopes and dreams of which I have no earthly control. That kind of stuff is like planning your life after you win the lottery. The future is all about commitment and action.
Life is a party and I don’t need a hat. Happy Birthday to me and that is all I have to say about that…