Will you still love me when I'm 64?

I was 23 years old when Paul McCartney sang that question for the Beatles Yellow Submarine. Now I discover, to my great ambivalence that I will be precisely that the day after tomorrow. I was going to write something truly profound this Thursday, as I did when I turned 60, but I was afraid that by then I would forget what it was I wanted to say.

In fact, I already have. There isn't profundity floating around anywhere, in here. So instead, as I'm increasingly prone to do, I offer you a few scattered and random thoughts:

• This distance between 23 and 64 is a lot shorter than you think.
• Some of the most memorable experiences are simpler than you may think. For example, my first espresso in Italy. A smiling girl on a subway with who I never spoke, the first time I smelled jasmine.
• Babies. When you are young other people's babies are pretty much boring. When they are your grand children, it's entirely different.
• Letters about Medical and Social Security arrive every year after you turn 50. This year they are suddenly of great interest to me.
• I stay young by seriously considering a great many new ideas.
• I exercise like there is no tomorrow. One of these days, there won't be.
• The hardest human virtue for me remains forgiveness. I've been working on that one for a very long time. Oh yeah. I'm also not particularly good at shutting up.
• Pay attention to little details. Very often, that's where you'll find the most revealing secrets.
• Of all the things you can possibly run out of, time is the one you cannot replace.

May each of you live long and prosper. Hopefully, I will continue to do the same. Now where did I put my spectacles?

Comments

[Todd Defren]

Happy Birthday, Shel!

Your specs are perched on top of your head. As usual. ;)

[Joseph Thornley]

Happy birthday Shel. Live long. (Continue to) prosper. Enjoy all that life brings you. And know you have many, many friends.

[Marshall Kirkpatrick]

Happy birthday Shel. Hope the next year of your life is a great one.

[shel israel]

Hey Todd...Psst over here. Don't look down but can you tell me if I'm all zipped up or not?

[Kemeny]

Amazing post. it made me think of my dad who past away a few years ago. he never got to be 64, but a few of your insights really made me think of him. Thanks.

ooh and just before i read your post i was watching this video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk
amazing how things just kind of work out on their own. Its a John Lenon Interview... amazing too.

good luck! ill be most def following you more often!

[meryl steinberg ( twitter: meryl333)]

This quote from Edith Wharton seems pertinent to your thoughts today: " In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in a small way" (personally, I must add the gift of contentment from exploring the Truth & at least trying to live an unselfish life)

[Riaz Kanani]

Happy birthday! - great post :)

[Doug Klippert]

Birthday card:
"The distance between 29 and 30 is 10 years."

I renewed my drivers liscene. I don't have to do that again until I'm 70.

The distance between 65 and 70 is 20 years.

[marshal sandler]

Welcome to best of all possible worlds !

[Karoli]

I turn 50 on Sunday. Not processing it well, but your observations somehow make it easier.

It's the AARP, Medicare, and Neptune Society letters that I find most depressing. But I'm working on it. :)

[Daniel Zadoff]

Shel, this is my first time reading your blog after a friend sent me a link to your twitter tips. After only two posts, I'm already a big fan of your writing. Have an amazing birthday tomorrow and thanks for the insight on life. I'm almost 23, and looking forward to all those experiences you listed above. Thanks!

[shel israel]

Daniel Thanks. I hope you come back often and continue to enjoy what I write. But I have to warn you, that the quality around here is sometimes uneven.

[Jonathan Hull]

Nice bit of reflection, which prompted me to hit the RSS button (and do a bit of reflecting myself).

I've come to think of time as a wily and heartless pickpocket working a drunken crowd.

How stupid and careless we feel the next morning as we reach groggily for our wallets.

Sometimes when I meditate I imagine a much older version of myself sitting facing me with a wistful smile. He wants desperately to tell me something. I strain to hear. What is it?

My musings on the mysteries of age and time even prompted me to write a novel narrated by an 81 year old man. It'll be interesting to read should I reach that age. Thirty-four more years to go.

[Scott Templar]

Nice post. Happy B-day.

[Elliott Ng]

Nice thoughts Shel. Thanks for your self-reflection and sharing that with us younger guys who far older than 23 but not yet 64! :)

[Grace]

You know, turning 60 was absolutely awful, but each year since then has become progressively better. I am a big fan of Baby Boomers who are reinventing the age-scale: 50 is the new 40, 60 is the new 50, 20 is...the new 10? Peace. G.