Tomorrow I will be 46 years old. When I was 18 years old, I made a number of predictions. I predicted (accurately) the types of women my friends and I would marry, the divorces, and I predicted the age of my death to be 39. I secretly planned for this eventuality. I expected to simply fail to wake up on my 40th birthday. I was somewhat surprised that i did. 40 is a great age and, having not planned for the eventuality, I was working without a map there for a little while. Then I learned that there is no map. Plan as you like, alter your life to meet all eventualities and you will be continually surprised as your world is thrown into chaos. This is true because you are not living this life alone. So, now with all of these bonus years under my belt I have learned a few things. But first, we brag.
45 was a good age -- 46 will be better. Yes, I need reading glasses after all this time, but damned if they don't look good perched on the end of my nose. I might have a second gray hair in my beard, but so far, my hair hasn't got the message. No wrinkles, just a few smile lines around the eyes. I still have to show my driver's license when I tell people my age. I am still tough as an old horseshoe.Next weekend I run a 5k obstacle course in the mountains again. But today, today I celebrate life, not just my life, but life in general, because it's really good when you let it be. So, here it is, the path to a good life:
* Spend your time with the young (or the young at heart)
* Watch more movies than television
* Watch more plays than Movies
* Be absurdly passionate about art, music, theater, and love
* Be a hopeful and hopeful romantic
* Cultivate the love of children, old-people, nice cats, good dogs, and great horses
* Like yourself even when you don't love yourself
* Dance in the toy aisle of the department store
* Cook for yourself like you're cooking for your mother
* Ride on the back of the cart in the grocery store
* Tell good stories to great people
* Write every day
* Sleep with the air down low and the covers up high
* Work hard
* Keep your sworn word
* Be nice to the people you love
* Forget the people you hate
* Engage the cashier in friendly conversation
* Joke
* Love
* Laugh till it hurts
* Smile like you're up to something
* Help people especially when it costs you something
* Have faith
* Drink Arnold Palmers
* Eat the Strawberry Ice-Cream
* Never waste a moment on fear or doubt
* Learn two new skills every year
* Say "yes" more than you say "no"
* Be the problem solver and not the problem causer
* Don't ever back down because your stand is unpopular or inconvenient
* Look everyone you talk to in the eye
* Hug
* Explore
* Be a scoundrel
* Listen
* Walk through the corridors of the world with your arms stretched wide and burn everything you touch with the fire inside you
* Read good books
* Cultivate the friendship of creative people
* Take vacations
* Never Ever Quit
And because it bears repeating: "I am neither old, nor young, but, instead, the perfect age for a man. I have accumulated wisdom and remain youthful enough to enjoy it. I know the words that will unlock a woman's heart, the means to turn tears to laughter, how to listen for heartache, and how to speak into silence without the stir of an echo.
I have begat children, loved women, fought men, and ridden great horses. These are the things of which a wonderful life is composed. My words have reached millions, I have written songs and sonnets. I have brought smiles and laughter. I would say it has been a complete life, but it has only just begun.
If the quality of a life is measured by those who love him and seek out his company (and surely it must be), then the value of this short season of my immortal existence is immeasurable. My friends are countless stars in my heaven.
Life, it gets under your skin, metaphorically speaking. You take one breath and have to have another."
Friday, May 6, 2011
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