Last week I had my regular medical checkup, and yesterday was my six-month appointment with my cardiologist. I am happy to report that everything is still ticking; both doctors said goodbye as though they actually expected to see me again; and I should be good for another six months, assuming a meteorite doesn’t choose my house as its landing pad.

But there’s always that little bit of anxiety before a medical appointment — and more so as we grow older — that starts you thinking about your own mortality, things you wish you had done (or not done) when you were younger, and what you might still do to make your remaining time more meaningful.

So, of course, I began my search for other, wiser people’s thoughts on aging, and I found this from one of my favorite authors (and no, it’s not Shakespeare, for a change):

“It’s very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you’d always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, it’s also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.”

– Mitch Albom, “Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson”

It would have been nice if I’d taken note of that when I was younger. But I suppose it’s never too late to do better.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/3/26