Seniors today are downright amazing.
Babe came home last night after playing duplicate bridge all day. He was worn out. He perked up as he began telling me that they stopped playing cards long enough to celebrate the 100th birthday of one of the players. Birthday Girl had announced with apologies to Marie Antoinette, "Let ‘em ALL eat cake!"
I asked if there really had been cake and Butterball Babe replied, "Oh yes. Chocolate, and I ate two fat pieces."
Warren Buffet who turns 85 in August plays bridge online with Bill Gates who celebrates his 60th birthday in October. They claim that bridge keeps their brains from atrophying while giving them a social outlet they might not have otherwise.
Keeping fit both mentally and physically is important as we climb up in age toward the triple digits, but physical exercise has its limitations. Today we are living longer and hence are paying more attention to cognizance. Is there anyone over the age of 60 that doesn't live in fear of Alzheimer's?
Card games and board games such as Trivial Pursuit are fun tools that keep our minds sharp. “Jeopardy!” is my seven o'clock ritual. I don't always get the answers as quickly as the contestants, but I am amazed at how much information I can still access.
Below is a list of seniors who have accomplished their goals while thumbing their nose at the notion that they were too old to cut the mustard.
At 49, Julia Child published her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
At 52, Sir Francis Chichester sailed around the world alone in a 53-foot boat normally manned by a crew of six.
At 53, Walter Hunt patented the safety pin.
At 55, Picasso completed his masterpiece, "Guernica."
At 57, Frank Dobesh competed in his first 100-mile bicycle ride 10 years after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
At 59, "Satchel" Paige became the oldest Major League baseball player.
At 60, George Bernard Shaw finished writing Heartbreak House, regarded by some as his masterpiece.
At 62, J.R.R. Tolkien published the first volume of Lord of the Rings.
At 65, jazz musician Miles Davis defiantly performed his final live album, just weeks before he died.
At 66, Noah Webster completed his monumental American Dictionary of the English Language.
At 70, Cornelius Vanderbilt began buying railroads.
At 71, Katsusuke Yanagisawa, a retired Japanese schoolteacher, became the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest.
At 72, Margaret Ringenberg flew around the world.
At 73, Larry King celebrated his 50th year in broadcasting.
At 75, cancer survivor Barbara Hillary became one of the oldest people, and the first African American woman, to reach the North Pole.
At 77, John Glenn became the oldest person to go up into space.
At 80, Christine Brown of Laguna Hills, California, flew to China and climbed the Great Wall.
At 81, Bill Painter became the oldest person to reach the 14,411-foot summit of Mt. Rainier.
At 82, William Ivy Baldwin became the oldest tightrope walker, crossing the South Boulder Canyon in Colorado on a 320-foot wire.
At 83, famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock championed for world peace.
At 85, Theodor Mommsen became the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature.
At 86, Katherine Pelton swam the 200-meter butterfly in 3 minutes, 1.14 seconds, beating the men's world record for that age group by over 20 seconds.
At 87, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science Monitor.
At 88, Michelangelo created the architectural plans for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
At 89, Arthur Rubinstein performed one of his greatest recitals in Carnegie Hall.
At 90, Marc Chagall became the first living artist to be exhibited at the Louvre museum.
At 93, P.G. Wodehouse worked on his 97th novel and was knighted just before he died.
At 94, comedian George Burns performed in Schenectady, NY, 63 years after his first performance there.
At 95, Nola Ochs became the oldest person to receive a college diploma.
At 96, Harry Bernstein published his first book, The Invisible Wall, three years after he started writing in order to cope with loneliness after his wife of 70 years passed away.
At 97, Martin Miller was still working fulltime as a lobbyist on behalf of benefits for seniors.
At 100, Frank Schearer seems to be the oldest active water skier in the world.
Many seniors today are accomplishing extraordinary feats. What about you? Do you plan to rust out or wear out?