Another Anniversary - Being 60 (week 27 - by Margaret Ullrich)

The thing about getting older is... time shrinks.

A year just isn't a year anymore.  

More like 5 months.  

Sometimes 4.

Paul and I just celebrated another anniversary.  We met 42 years ago.  

It was 1968.  We were living in New York.  Viet Nam was the war of the day.  The Democrats had held a Convention in Chicago with rioting in the streets.  Nixon was elected president.

There was always rioting in the streets.  At the time putting up with riots just seemed like a normal way to live.  Same old, same old.  By 1968 we'd had about 3 years of riots and demonstrations over one thing or another.

Ah, the late 60s.

Good times. 

I know that was over 40 years ago.

I have been busy over the past 40 years.

It just sounds weird to say "Over 40 years ago..."

It sounds like a honking big chunk of time.  

The scarey thing about being 60 is one knows that, even with all the crap about 60 is the new 40, over half of an average lifespan is over.

Our mirrors may lie, but our joints and eyes are too damn honest to go along with the gag.

At about this age, more or less, folks start taking measure of what they've done and what they'd still like to do before, as Shakespeare might put it, being kicked off stage.  

Some even make a bucket list.  

A little while ago... okay, in 2007... shit, that's 3 years ago... Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson starred in The Bucket List.  They played 2 fellows who leave their deathbeds to do things like skydiving.  It was classified as an Adventure movie.  Yeah, right, as long as there are stunt doubles, a 90-year-old can be in an Adventure movie.

Was it really 3 years ago?

I still remember the commercial.

The only problem is, people don't have stunt doubles hiding in the closet, just waiting to do something exciting that one can write about as a personal adventure in a Christmas card.

We're pretty much stuck with factory issued equipment, with a few tweaks like joint replacements thrown in when things get bad enough.

Never work quite the same as the original did 40 years ago.

Do I have a bucket list?

Not yet.

Will skydiving be on it?

Yeah, right, when I get a stunt double.