Faith, family, fitness grow more significant with age

I remember the day well when my father turned 60. That would have been Jan. 12, 1994, which in itself seems like a lifetime ago. “Man, Dad is sure getting old,” I remember thinking. “He is almost retirement age.”
Funny how the perspective changes when it’s your 60-year-old mug looking back at you in the mirror. I crossed that threshold myself this week with thankfully no pomp to celebrate my circumstance. It was just another Saturday, which was fine by me.
A close call for a high school buddy reminded me a couple weeks ago that we shouldn’t take any day for granted at this stage of the game. He’s is better shape than I am, working out constantly, but his heart just stopped one morning and if not for his wife bringing him back with CPR I would have lost a dear friend. Ooph! That was literally a heart-stopping moment for everyone in our tight circle of friends.
He’s in the bonus round now, fortunately, and I’ve realized I might improve my daily disposition if I take the same approach. Every day is a blessing and if I look at it that way the little things that don’t go just right won’t seem all that significant.
Age awareness hit me between the eyes earlier this month when our baby girl passed a milestone of her own. Blayke marked her 30th year on earth with every reason in the world to celebrate. In my view she has life by the tail, as does her older sister Robyn, but still, my youngest is 30 years old. When did that happen? Birthdays take on a whole different meaning once you have kiddos, so to see our daughters loving life is a priceless gift in and of itself.
Age is just a relative number, as they say, and when I stop to think about it I feel relatively blessed. I’m surrounded by people I love and admire, my life’s work is meaningful and most days I feel pretty darn good. It may take the gears a little longer to get moving in the morning, but once they do I’m good to go.
Truth be told I’ve become somewhat obsessed with my fitness routine lately. Some of it is golf inspired, trying to keep my various parts strong and limber enough to hit that little ball as far and straight as possible. The end result is that my net score hasn’t changed a whole lot, but my energy level is better than it was at 50. That’s a birdie on my life’s scorecard, and I’m wishing I would have figured that out a long, long time ago.
Faith, family and fitness, in that order, will grow more important with each passing day. And there are days, I have to admit, where it feels like the train is slightly off its track. At the end of those days, laughter is the best medicine, so to take the cruel mistress that is aging in stride I’ll try to humor myself, and my readers, with a few sayings about life at 60:
* You start getting carded again, but now cashiers want to see your senior card to make sure you’re old enough to qualify for the discount;
* sleep is no longer routine, requiring a nightly sleeping pill, CPAP machine, high-tech cooling liner and frequent trips to the bathroom;
* being 60 means seeing the world differently … through trifocals (Ouch. I resemble that remark)
And finally, being 60 means embracing the good life, and not feeling guilty about taking more power naps:-)

KURT JOHNSON can be reached at kjohnson@ hamilton.net