There is this old man who walks his dog every morning. Not sure where he lives, could be one block away, could be a mile away, but he always walks his dog, Sheila, past my house, around 7:30 AM going one way and again around 8:15 going back. He is well past retirement age, probably late 80s or early 90s. No matter how bad the weather is, he will always walks with Sheila. One hour later in the weekends.

Once I saw him coming out of the grocery store, alone, I guess he was driving.

Today I took my kid to the pediatrician in the afternoon for the annual exam and on the way there I saw him on his bike, with Sheila on the leash, he was biking slowly but he was biking.

Good for him. He keeps active. I don't know his name, I asked him once about the dog. Sheila is also very old, probably just as old as him in dog's years.

they make a lovely pair.

Now get out and do some exercise. I need to get moving too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2021 08:00PM by space-time.

I can’t stress this enough, even if I’m not an ardent practitioner. Goes a long way to preventing the aches and pains of getting older (which are really the consequences of becoming sedentary) and generally keeps your systems in good shape for your whole life.

I like that story a lot.

When my wife taught at our college as an adjunct following her retirement as a technologist, she was well known for saying, "Move or die!" in her classes.

We walk 18 holes of golf 5 days a week and on the other 2 days we bike 15 miles and kayak a couple of miles. On rainy days we do an hour on the stupid machines in the basement. We're both still chunky. I wonder what we'd weigh if we were sedentary?

Quote
Michael
I wonder what we'd weigh if we were sedentary?

You don’t want to know.

I walk a loop with one of the dogs early mornings - 2.5 miles - then hit the gym after breakfast for shoulder rehab and do another 2 mile loop or if the weather is bad, at least a mile on the treadmill. Books on my iPhone let me "multitask".

My mantra is "The less you do, the less you can do."

---

My life goes smoothly and in regular intervals

Reminds me of this: I’m driving out of my area on a medium-busy road without sidewalks about a month or so ago, and I pass a guy shuffling along the side of the road pushing a walker. Since there are some memory-care facilities around, I call my wife and she calls the local sheriff’s office as a non-emergency welfare call.

Anyway, apparently he’s with it mentally, and he does this for exercise. I wish he would pick a less-busy road tho.

My father walked several miles per day to and from work, for many years. He was thin. Only smoking and a family history of death before age 50 worked against him. At age 80, as he was being wheeled into the operating room for emergency quadruple bypass surgery during his third heart attack in 35 years, the cardiac surgeon told us he can’t tell where the blood supply to the heart is coming from - everything looked blocked.

That was in 2007. My father still walks every day. He hasn’t smoked since the surgery. The inferior wall of his heart, previously thought to be dead from his 1991 heart attack, has started working again.

There’s little doubt that he has survived so long because of being aerobically fit. Now in his 90’s, he’s the only male in his family born over the course of his life to live past 55.

Quote
S. Pupp
Now in his 90’s, he’s the only male in his family born over the course of his life to live past 55.

Awesome!

My FIL had a similar family history. He specifically retired early (at 60, IIRC) because no male in his family had lived past 65.

He died last year, at home, surrounded by family, at 95. I'm not sure what I would do with 30 bonus years (although I'll think of something, if I'm so lucky).

My 90 year old mom told me the other day she had been out in the back garden moving about 24 large concrete stepping stones around to make a patio. This after she put gravel down and leveled it out. Lol
She also still mows her own grass.
You go mom.

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

It’s been MANY years but, the last few times I skied Whiteface (outside of Lake Placid, NY) there was always a 93 year old gent who was telemark skiing (on weekdays when, because of his age, he could ski for free). His 92 year old wife was in the lodge doing needlework. I never did get to speak with the gentleman, only his wife. I remember thinking they were great!

I worry about living longer. Super active until my mid 30s, then dropped off to near zero.

My father, skinny guy, 5 8, 155, never smoked and rarely drank, not even coffee or soda -- on his feet all day at work, wrenched on cars.

Quad baypass at 65? something, changed everything, eating, walking, retired. Didnt matter. Passed 10 years later. Although maybe more from late stage dementia.

I need to get back on some plan, but another year has gone by and nada.

---

Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Everyone always said I look exactly like my dad. He died of a heart attack at 49. I can't help but think I might be past my expiration date.

---

Mom backpacked through Germany at 84, went to Honduras at 87, and Alaska at 90. She lived alone until last year, then she grudgingly moved in with us after her landlord refused to let her live alone anymore. It has only been the last six weeks that we are talking about home care while I'm at work.

Mom is now 101.5

---

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.”
-- François de La Rochefoucauld

Growing older is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

Space,

That story reminds of my grandfather. He'd walk his dog every day, multiple times per day. Not on any particular schedule, though. He was so distinctive that you couldn't mistake him for any other dog owner and dog. He wore the same coat, same hat, carried the same kind of bag for picking up after his pooch. He walked at the same pace and took the same route each time. Many people thought it wasn't so much my grandfather walking his dog but his dog walking him or man and dog walking each other. They were both neighborhood favorites.

Robert