Is Age Really Just a Number?

So I turned 45 today. Is that a milestone or do I have to wait for 50? I wonder why we make such a big deal about birthdays? Who really wants to celebrate being closer to old age? Why do we congratulate ourselves about surviving another year? Is that the true meaning of life? Surviving another year?’

If I live until I am 90, I am officially middle aged, but what if I don’t plan to live that long? Does that make me over the hill? I don’t feel middle aged or over the hill. Am I just dillusional or is age a real thing?

As I observe my 10-year-old Biscuit, I wonder what amazing changes he will see in his lifetime. I know in mu 45 years, I’ve seen us go from rotary phones to smart cell phones and 6-channel TV’s to hundreds of 24-hour a day cable, not to mention the super computers we carry around in our pockets.

I am at the that point in my life when I say, “Back in my day…”. That freaks me out. How did this happen? Am I just kidding myself, or am I really on the down slope of my life? I do admit, I find myself complaining about my aches and pains more than I used to. That sucks, but it’s a real thing, not just a ploy to get attention.

As I care for my aging parents, I think to myself, “I don’t want to ever feel like that.” The Biscuit recently asked me why we keep old people alive when they don’t have a good life. “Why don’t we just put them down?” he asked. I didn’t have answer for him.

Did you know that when a baby is born, he or sheis 70% water. When we are mature adults, we are 50% and when when we are 70, we are only 30% water. We literally dry up like plants.

So maybe the writer of Logan’s Run had it right, maybe we should end our lives at 30 while we are at our peak.  For me, I just want to live long enough to give my son everything he needs to have a good life, and to have a good quality of life for as long as I can, without burdening others. I think that is reasonable.

I hope that when I done living this life, the law allows me to make the decision to move on. I don’t believe in heaven, but I do believe that we move on… at least I hope we do. When my day comes, I hope to see you all in the next life, but until then, I hope to spend some quality in this life.