The Cat Box

I just read a posting on a sort of “senior” website asking what do you see when you pass a 76-year-old woman on the street. The answer they were looking for was “nothing,” you don’t notice her at all. To that I say “so what?”

When I walk down the street I don’t notice anyone who is representative of any age; unless they stand out for some odd reason. Most of the time a person stands out is because their “difference” is apparent, and may I say appreciated by this girl. People’s more extreme individual traits do catch my eye.

Aside from some ageism in the workplace (and the degree of that varies between occupations) I believe that there has never been a better time for ageing in this country. And the Baby Boom that occurred in those years from 1946 to 1964 here in the US could have had something to do with that. There is power in numbers and the Baby Boomers are 76 million strong.

We Boomers benefit from the availablity of modern drugs to keep us going. Happily, some of us also spend time exercising and enjoying a healthy diet.

In 1900, life expectancy for much of the industrialized world was under 50. Now one hundred and some years later we are living well into our 70s and 80s and our ageing accomplishments are twofold. First we are living longer. I don’t know this, but I bet at the beginning of our living longer we were simply living longer. These days we live longer with substantially improved quality of life for those additional years.

Abraham Lincoln said it a long time ago, “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” It is my crusade to put more life into each day, and if I can inspire anyone else to join me, I invite you to come along. Let’s get moving.