Last month, I turned 61.<\/p>\n
Which means if I live to be 90, my life is more than two-thirds
\nover.<\/p>\n
Now, as I sail into the sunset of that final third of my
\nexistence, here’s some of what I’m going through … and what I
\nsee, feel, and think.<\/p>\n
#1–Energy.<\/p>\n
I feel fortunate that I still have enormous energy during the
\nwork day — and I still work 60 hours a week.<\/p>\n
But after quitting time, then I feel drained, don’t have much
\nenergy, and am content to sit in my favorite easy chair and read
\na book or newspaper.<\/p>\n
I even turn on the boob tube, look for a good movie, and watch it
\nfor half an hour or so — more than that is too much TV and brain
\nrot.<\/p>\n
This routine is not a huge problem for me, as work, writing, and
\nreading are most of what I like to do best anyway.<\/p>\n
When I was younger, my major energy-consuming activity was
\nplaying vigorously with my kids — a lot.<\/p>\n
Now they are 25 and 28, and the play is less vigorous — mainly
\nboard games (which I play with them) and video games (which I
\nwatch but do not play myself).<\/p>\n
#2–Materialism.<\/p>\n
I was never terribly materialistic, though I liked having a lot
\nof vinyl records and books.<\/p>\n
But when we moved a few years ago, my wife made my get rid of
\nmost of these collections.<\/p>\n
And much to my surprise, I was happy to do so.<\/p>\n
The older I get, the less stuff I want.<\/p>\n
#3–Marriage.<\/p>\n
The love of our marriage deepens, at least for me, with each
\npassing year.<\/p>\n
My wife Amy, along with my sons, is the center of my universe.<\/p>\n
#4–Dog.<\/p>\n
I have always liked dogs and we have had a few over the years.
\nThey were all wonderful.<\/p>\n
But our latest, Bailey — a rescue dog from North Carolina and a
\nNova Scotia duck tolling retriever — is the most affectionate of
\nall.<\/p>\n
Other people with rescue dogs say the same. I think because these
\ndogs were abandoned, they appreciate their new owners and homes
\neven more than other dogs.<\/p>\n
I just love him to pieces, and he wants to be with us all the
\ntime.<\/p>\n
#5–Patience.<\/p>\n
I have never suffered fools gladly.<\/p>\n
And as I age, my tolerance for rudeness, ignorance, and stupidity
\ndeclines with each passing year.<\/p>\n
#6–Socializing.<\/p>\n
I prefer to be at home, read and write, spend time with my family
\nand my dog, and stay in the comfortable, familiar environment of
\nthe house.<\/p>\n
My wife drags me out to socialize, and while I enjoy it when we
\ndo, I probably would do it very little if left to my own devices.<\/p>\n
#7–Travel.<\/p>\n
Pure torture for me. If my wife, my oldest son, and his wife did
\nnot want me to travel with them, my only travel would be to give
\nseminars, an activity I love.<\/p>\n
#8–Books.<\/p>\n
I am addicted to reading books and even more so to writing them.<\/p>\n
Perhaps paperbound books will vanish one day, and I’ll stop.<\/p>\n
But as long as I have publishers who will have me write paper
\nbooks for them, I’ll keep doing it.<\/p>\n
#9–Mortality.<\/p>\n
If I live to be 90, I have only 30 years left, and there is so
\nmuch I still want to do that I am running out of time. And it’s
\nbeginning to bug me.<\/p>\n
#10–Risk-taking.<\/p>\n
If you are over 60 and lose a big chunk of money in the market or
\nanother investment, you may not have the time or future earning
\npotential to make up for the loss. So I am less of a risk-taker
\nas an investor, though I was never a big one to begin with. (My
\nbiggest speculation was buying thousands of ounces of silver
\nyears ago when it was at $10 an ounce.)<\/p>\n
“Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be.” — Robert
\nBrowning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last month, I turned 61. Which means if I live to be 90, my life is more than two-thirds over. Now, as I sail into the sunset of that final third of my existence, here’s some of what I’m going through … and what I see, feel, and think. #1–Energy. I feel fortunate that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions\/1667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}