60

For some reason I remember my 10th birthday. 

We'd had snow that winter (1959-1960).  Santa brought me a great, new bike.  It was red and white and chrome and very cool. I rode that bike into the ground and until I was too old and too embarassed to ride it any longer, even with the addition of the "longhorn" handle bars! 

Somewhere in the mix of that time and the celebration I recall thinking, "Fifty years from now--let's see. . .that'll be 2010--I'll turn 60!" 

Of course, that seemed a world away; clearly a lifetime down the road.  So far away that I really couldn't imagine my ever making it to that point, let alone understanding what survival would mean or entail. 

Today, that point arrived. 

I made it. 

I'm 60-years-old! 

Frankly, it feels like just another day to me.  People around me seem to be taking it harder than I. 

Of course, I'm glad to have endured.  Enjoying a 60th birthday beats any other alternative I can imagine. 

But, life passes and it fills up an hour, a moment at a time. 

I'm very grateful for the way time has filled my life. 

Last week I reflected with a friend on this matter of age and aging.  We wondered together if we could make it 15 more years in the world of work and continuing activity.  He didn't seem too sure! 

When I was ten, I couldn't really see 60.  Now that I'm 60, I strain to see 80, but it is much closer than the horizon with which I contended back in 1960 as I rode that shinny new bike. 

Life is a mystery.  Life is a gift.  I expect we need to make the most of it. . .today.