Good morning. 🌞🌳🦆
24 September 2026
I remember when I thought people in their 40s were old and anyone in their 50s was practically ancient. From that perspective, someone in their 70s might as well have been a living mummy. Perspective changes, doesn’t it? Somewhere along the way I started prefacing stories with, ‘When I was a young man in my 50s…’ Mostly I said it to get a chuckle out of someone in their 20s. Unfortunately, I have a deadpan delivery, so people often struggle to tell when I’m joking. It’s a gift and a curse.
These days, when I look at the people running things — soldiers, police officers, teachers — so many of them look too young to be doing what they’re doing. I’m tempted to ask their age just to make sure they’re not playing hooky from school. And then the opposite hits me: while I’m still the same person looking out through the same two eyes I’ve had for decades, my appearance has aged exactly the way it’s supposed to. That’s part of the deal. If you live, you age. If you’re lucky, you live past the point you once thought you’d never reach when you were twenty.
And really, all things considered, we’re lucky to have been born at all. The odds are practically zero. When mathematicians try to calculate it, they end up with numbers like 1 in 100,685,000. It’s a statistical miracle.
“In the end, reaching this age feels less like decline and more like improbable victory — a reminder that every day we wake up is another win against impossible odds, and worth savoring.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” — Oscar Wilde
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelius
“Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.” — Unknown
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