July 21, 2006 - Day 3 - Week 16 - Birthday

Today is a good day.  Every birthday after 39 is worth talking about.  My paternal grandmother lived to the age of 90 and she had a theory as to why the older we get the faster the years seem to go by.  Here’s how it goes:  When age 5 one year is a fifth of our life, or a large percentage of the total years we have lived.  At the age of 50 one year is a small percentage of our total time on earth, and the principle applies all the way to our 100^th year.  Thus, time goes faster the older we get because each year is a smaller percentage of the whole. Makes sense to me.

I have, as of today, lived 64 years.  The first 25 were primarily marked by education, the second 25 highlighted by witnessing the growth and independence of my family and the development of a career path, and now the third 25 years are to be marked by turning what knowledge I have gained into wisdom.

Dr. John Seeley, my mentor and friend, once comforted me with the thought that wisdom does not really begin to accrue until we are around 75 years of age.  He is 94, wise, humble and still able to out think any thinkers I know.  Thus, if John is correct, I have 11 years more of acquiring information, experiencing life, and processing data retrieved before I begin to pontificate, except at the dinner table.  In the meantime, I will try and communicate some of life’s lessons and learning’s.

For the past several years I have written down my reflections on my birthday.  Here we go for this year:

Age 64 – physical appearance youthful – hair – still enough to say I have hair on my head – energy level rising – weight 177 – 181 and steady – happiness quotient high – concern about the earth extreme – motivated to address the systemic reasons why I got cancer – heredity a factor, but exposure an accelerant in the process – proud of my wife, children, son-in-law and grandchildren – concerned about Jennifer because of her cancer – still love nature and kayaking is the best – appreciative of the support of my brother and his wife – recognize the real value of friendship – delighted to share my birthday at the Impudent Oyster in Chatham Mass with good friends, Laura, and Katy – realize that population growth is compromising the environment that sustains us all -  world is too violent and too crowded and we shift our baseline to accommodate this change – still love that which has nourished me for 64 years – wish I had more time to get across the environmental ethic as this will be the only principle upon which we will build the future – look forward to being hugged by and hugging people I care about – one Dodger game and one night at the Hollywood Bowl per year is enough because of the commuter evening traffic in LA – more fishing trips balanced with more opportunity to talk about fishing as a symbolic industry reflecting the state of the world – realize that the religious right is neither and that the distortion of the religions that have informed me – Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism have been compromised and too many accept this false religious doctrine as gospel – still love to windsurf – even love more sailing in our 8 foot sailing dinghy in a 15 knot breeze on Nantucket Sound – disturbed by the Portuguese Man of War jelly fish in the sound as well – they have not been around in 50 years – need to start a national organization called COALITION FOR NOT GETTING CANCER – there are too many groups dealing with cancer survivorship and not enough focusing on why in the first place -  want to complete three books I have been working on –  one on extra-marital affairs (re-working of one written 25 years ago called Affair Prevention), one on Patriotism and one on Cape Cod -  was going to finish the first two but decided to write about my cancer and reflections instead – good present would be to finish the above and also the movie on Cape Cod – reflection upon my life right now is different than in the past years because of the urgency I feel about the environment, my health, and my family.

All for now. Happy Birthday to all my friends born on July 21.