I was out on the route today when I had this thought. I'm 53 years old. Thirty years ago I was 23, and in 30 years from now, I will be 83.
I found that I liked the idea of looking back to being 23 better than I did looking forward to being 83. Part of it, I'm sure, is at 23 I was in my prime healthwise. I could still eat anything and not really care, I could still do quite a few things athletically that I don't dare try now, and I had a lot of my hair.
Not that I worry much about my hair. Or lack thereof.
When I turn ahead to 83, I can only think of diminishing physical capacity, unless I really work at it and be really careful (no falling, somehow avoid all of the cancers, eat right, or better, exercise quite a bit, etc.).
The thing about 83 is, it's the unknown. I'm not there yet, and based on what I know about it now, I'm not that thrilled about it. I mean, I want to get there—I'm one of those guys who wouldn't mind reaching 100 or more if it's in the cards. I told someone that—I forget who—and their response was, basically, "Why, so you can sit around looking miserable and wishing you were dead?"
Something like that.
I don't know. I'd kind of like to see what the world looks like in 47-50 years. Just like I've seen it over the past 50-something years. Lots of changes just in my lifetime. Things that were science fiction becoming science fact. We finally got the video phone the phone book promised back in the 70s thanks to smartphones and things like Facetime, or video capabilities on Facebook.
I guess you need a face to video chat.
I can look back at 23 and see where I was, and track where I've gone since. At 83, I have no idea if I'll even be around. It depends on which side of the family I follow. My paternal grandparents lived into their nineties. My maternal grandparents, not-so-much. My mother's father died of lung cancer when I was 12, and my mother's mother was in her 80s when she passed.
While some aspects of 23 are appealing, a lot of it is not. By late August I was seven months married (which was very good for me) and my wife and I were expecting our first child (another blessing). But with that marriage and child came responsibility, and my track record for getting and holding down a job wouldn't be that great for quite a few years. I would have four or five jobs in less than two or three years. I would also have two children by the end of that. Those were not good times financially for us.
Yet, somehow we got through. Finally working for the county helped. Moving to Oregon from California where there was a cheaper cost of living helped, too, though pay is also equivalently diminished (I don't really remember it being so bad a drop). At 30, I had my first mid-life crisis, and another at 35. By the time I was 40, I was basically done with being disappointed with where I was in life. By then, we had a custom built home, a thriving newspaper business, and before I was 45, we would have the main part of our house paid off along with both our cars.
At 45, my oldest was 22 (he turns 30 later this year). My youngest was 20. Both of them old enough to be out on their own (though that didn't quite stick—they did make it out on their own for a while).
There are some things I do hope will be true by 83, which will make life worth living. I hope to have great grandchildren well before then. Maybe eight, if people cooperate. If not, I'll be happy with whatever they can manage. The idea is to perpetuate the family line. At this point, my line is the only one that has a chance of going on from my parents. Neither of my sisters have children and neither would think about having children now (even if they could).
There are two other branches of my father's parents (he has a brother with lots of children, grandchildren, etc, along with a sister who had two), and my mother's parents has three more. I'd still hate to see my part of the deal die off.
I'd like to think the world will have figured out a lot of things by then—disease, poverty, crime, war, you know, the biggies—but I'm not holding my breath. All of that has been going on for millennia, and with that kind of baked in momentum, it's hard to put the brakes on.
Still, it's good to dream and work towards those things. STEEM is suppose to be a possibility for such a future. I'm not sure where it's going now. I'm still rooting for it, though. I have enough at stake that I want it to do well. I don't want to wait 30 years to see that happen, though. I'd like to retire way before that.
I've told my wife that I probably have three to five years at my new job. She, of course, had to ask, "What are you going to do after that?" She's not looking to work beyond five more years herself. I told her I'd find something else. What I didn't tell her is, I'm hoping that we can both just not have to work before we get too old to enjoy it. I've seen too many people work until their 65 or older, and then need to keep working just to make ends meet. Some never do (make ends meet). Others die before they can fully enjoy the life they've built.
So, well before 83, I want to see more of the world, finally get my novels some much needed readership, along with the comic book stories still brewing in my head, and bring to life whatever other creative works I can come up with. Mostly, I hope to still have my mind. I don't want to be a burden on anyone. I don't care if I have to take care of my wife. I just don't want it to be the other way around. Especially, if I'm not cognizant of it, because of some mental incapacity.
I'm trying to keep my brain sharp and continue to learn. I understand it's helpful, although I think I've reached my memory capacity and keep overwriting stuff. Some of it, I'd like to keep. There's a lot in there I don't mind parting with.
If you're over 30, or even if you're not, think about where you were 30, 20 or even 10 years ago, and how old and where you will be 10, 20, 30 years from now. Take some time to do it, if you haven't already. It will be worth it.
Life is accelerating at a rapid pace. Time flies. It will be upon you before you know it, and unless you're okay with it being written without your guidance or wishes (yes, some things will just flat out be beyond your control), you might find yourself regretting not having put at least a hand on the steering wheel.
Image source—Pixabay