LIVE LONGER 2021? WHAT’S THE PLAN AFTER THAT

‘Live longer’ has been the mantra of mankind.

Just a little longer, a little more, a little help to get there.

Make the promise to do better if you’re given the grace of a longer life than, say, eighteen?

You don’t have to believe it, but decisions made early have a way of reminding us how good they were.

And the not so good.

What feels like a roll of the dice in the first third of life still counts.

For easy math, figure each life stage at twenty years: 0-20, 20-40, 40-60.

If you look at the numbers from twenty, sixty is way the hell out there in grandma-land. Then, look at twenty from sixty and what do you see?

Commitment, generosity, kindness, understanding. It’s there if you look hard enough.

What we don’t want to see?

A bunch of twenty year olds with their spirits crushed so bad that they need years to gather the pieces back into commitment, generosity, kindness, and understanding.

Live Longer: 40

I spoke to Prince Charles’ tutor once while he walked us around Cambridge University. He said he was Prince Charles’ tutor and he was dating my wife’s aunt, so maybe he was, or maybe that was his lady-lure.

“Who comes to Cambridge for college?” I asked.

“Yes, actually the better question is who doesn’t come. One doesn’t come to Cambridge to find oneself. Our students have proven aptitude and logged years of work on academic projects,” Dr. Marion said. “That’s before they get here. Our job is to guide them.”

Does that sound a twenty year old college student?

Somewhere between Cambridge and the local community college, people find themselves.

I found myself in Geology 101, the science last class I needed to graduate. At 39. Best class, most useful class, ever, and it took until then to understand.

After that one class I look at roads cut into hillsides and understand why they look the way they look. It feels like a lens into the earth-processes, ancient history, and it’s the most exciting thing I wear people out with.

It’t a gift.

At twenty you’ve won some, lost some, but the wins are things of beauty, flashing moments of brilliance covered in the amber honey of sweet memory.

Forty is a sticky age.

Forty years, forty extra pounds, forty dreams that get further and further away. The image sticks of the road stretching out ahead, the long road behind, with forty more miles before the darkness.

Live Longer: The Darkness at 60

Hit sixty and the winning and losing, wins and losses, don’t change, but you notice one more than the other.

At least you should, and here’s why: you’ve seen the world spin for sixty years and held your ground.

How did that happen? What’s the big secret.

Spoiler: You’re going to live longer than sixty and the poor choices you made at twenty and forty won’t be the anchors dragging you back. You’ll find more joys, but also obligations.

At twenty you’re obliged to make your parents look like did good work; at forty you’ve added your own special twist; at sixty all eyes are on you for guidance, whether you like it or not.

You are obliged to do something at each milestone, so plan ahead.

If you’ve shown your authentic self at each stop, some people will stick around for the long haul.

You’ll need a theme song together for the long and winding road. It’s going to be a strange trip and nobody’s taking it but you.

Hit the link and sing along with friends.

You gotta walk that lonesome valley
You gotta walk it by yourself
Nobody here can walk it for you
You gotta walk it by yourself

Mamma and daddy loves you dearly
Sister does and brother, too
They may beg you to go with them
But they cannot go for you

You gotta walk that lonesome valley
You gotta walk it by yourself
Nobody here can walk it for you
You gotta walk it by yourself

January 1, 2021. Who feels like a walk?