ralper

I celebrated my 71st birthday the other day. While its true that every once in a while I feel like I’m 100 most days I feel like I’m 40. I’m not sure what 71 is supposed to feel like but it doesn’t feel anything like I imagined it would when I was in my 20s. In my head I know I can’t do everything I could do when I was in my 30s, in my heart I refuse to believe it.

I have heard the new theory of relativity. That is the older you get, the faster time goes. 50 years ago I’d never have believed it but now I wonder where the years went. How in the world did I get to be 71 so fast. Just yesterday, or maybe the day before, I was 25 and ready to tear the world apart. When I made my first IRA deposit it seemed like the money was locked away so far into the future, next year I have to take my first RMD. How did that happen?

Still, I’m not unhappy at 71. It’s true that its much better to get here than not to. And besides, I’m healthy and don’t feel like I’m anywhere near the end of the road. There’s still a lot of highway left or to quote Robert Frost:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

So, what do I do in the future? I’m still working. Not the crazy 70 hours a week that I did for most of my life, I’ve slowed down to 35 hours a week. Both of my sons are into their careers and I’m looking forward to seeing them advance and grow. Liz and I just celebrated our 38th anniversary and I fully well expect to make it to at least 50.

I have to admit the past has been good, I hope the future is just as good, and I get to celebrate many more birthdays.

robb

71 is the new 45, Rob. I'm constantly amazed when I find out the age of the seniors that I work with. We had a few birthdays last week and one of the birthday girls asked me to guess how old she was and not being the fool I said 25 to which she replied I just turned 90 which I never would of guessed. I see many seniors well into their 90's who are still very active.

kgf3076

I'm older than you Rob and I still feel like I'm 40...well, except in the morning when I have to get out of bed and have to do strategic planning on how I'm going to accomplish that feat.

tof

71 is easy, Rob. Wait until you hit 72.

dlq04

Since we have a few on here born in the 30s, many more born in the 40s, someone born in 1950 has no reason to feel old!

The Raptor

Never mind.

Emil St-Hilaire

Bunch of old farts…

MsPerky

How bout 1959? Nope, not moi.

S2KRAY

I’m pushing 78. I own a detailing business and have averaged about 3 to 4 details a week this year. I am an avid cyclist and I won all 3 gold medals in the 2014 Delaware Senior Olympics. I set a state record in the 40K road race beating the previous record of 20 years by 5 minutes. I got invited to Nationals but due to a family commitment I could not go. I still bike regularly. I play golf when I am not detailing or biking. My doc is very happy with all of my numbers and calls me his poster boy. I don’t pay attention to aging and do not plan to slow down. Like the commercial says Just do it.

boltonblue

I know from taking a year off some time ago, having the time to work out is a huge benefit. It's one of the aspects of retirement I actually look forward too.
But I'm still a youngster.