At Age 74- What Has Happened to Me?

by Alan C. Fox 6 Comments

 

I read a NY Times op ed piece yesterday about aging, the author feeling uncomfortable as the oldest person in the room.  I wondered, “What has changed for me?”

For most of my life I have done enough to get what I wanted.  No more, no less.

This means that I have watched a lot of football games, spent time in class and in travel, and completely indulged and overindulged my passions of the moment. Those passions have included accumulating wealth, finding intimacy, and in the words of e. e. cummings, “singing each morning out of each night”.

Two years ago I realized that my life, my opportunity, was finite.  I was tired of weighing 278 pounds, and disappointed that I had never focused on or actively promoted my writing.  I thought about my father, nearing age 100, and Grandma Moses who famously began her art career at age 80.

I decided to change, with the twenty or more years I might have left.  Today, for the first time in my life, at 210 pounds I am receiving compliments about my appearance.  I like that, even though it’s far too late for me to impress those breathtaking high school girls who paraded before and past me in the hallway every school day of my adolescent life, but who declined to be diverted into my used Pontiac sedan.

I decided to come out from the obscurity of my private writing forest, and, if not to dance in the warmth of the revealing campfire at the forest edge, at least to admire all those dirty but happy campers from where I could both see and be seen, if anyone cared to look.  Life is messy.  I thought maybe I should give it a real try.

So I’m pretty much doing what I’ve always done.  More work, less television.

I’m writing regularly – one books out, one coming out in two weeks, and working on a third and more, blogging every week without fail.  I’m also promoting my writing.  I have found that radio and a few television interviews aren’t so bad after all.  They’re even fun.  Especially when they’re over.

I’m still micromanaging my commercial real estate business, with much needed help from my outstanding staff.  They regularly do most of the work, and point me in the right direction each morning, even if I don’t start walking that way instantaneously.

I’m riding on the winds generated by my baby Rattle, the poetry magazine I started more than eighteen years ago.  Nowadays Rattle’s editor Tim Green has grabbed the baby from its cradle, nursed and tutored it through college and beyond.  Tim is the best poetry editor on the planet.  With a staff of fewer than two we accomplish more than the talents of twenty.  I should add, of course, that without our contributors – poets in more than 100 countries have submitted – we would be silent.  It is their words we reveal to the entire world.

And I have enough time, no more and no less, for the people who are important in my life.  It might be a brief encounter in my office, a regular lunch date with someone I have enjoyed for many years, or the most comfortable and intimate conversations I experience with family, dear friends, and my wife.

I am entirely mindful that my opportunities will end in somewhere between eighteen and thirty years, so I work harder, enjoy myself more, and don’t have one second left for pettiness.  Toxic people have disappeared from my life, constructive people surround me.

What else has changed for me at age seventy four?  Absolutely nothing.

Alan

 

 

Comments ( 6 )

  1. Joanie Prince
    Love this, Alan!  Your writing is a gift to us all, so thank you for "less t.v., more work/writing."  You are living the maxim "never too late to start..."  Hugs!
    • Alan C. Fox

      Joanie, appreciate your support always on this writing journey of mine. Hugs - Alan

  2. Robert Raymond Rawstron III aka Skip Rawstron
    Alan:  You are an incredibly inspiring person.  Your last 2 blogs have been incredibly well timed for me.  I had forgotten that I can and will prevail.  What has happened to me at age 74 hit me right between the eyes and I've had a very simple realization.  At age 63 and my weight at an all time high, I need to resurrect the intestinal fortitude I have and make the rest of my life WELL LIVED.   Sincerely,   Skip  
    • Alan C. Fox

      There it is Skip, that positive outlook I hope to inspire! Strive for that life well lived and know in your heart that you WILL prevail. - Alan  

  3. Nancy
    Hi Alan. As always thank you for your words of inspiration. I have a question. How do you rid your life of toxic people if the person is someone who needs your help and or friendship?
    • Alan C. Fox

      Nancy,

      Their need is not the issue.  Would you work for an employer in great need if the pay was $2.00 a week?   Would you pay a friend $5,000 to type a letter simply because they “need” the money?  Toxic people are better at gaining your sympathy than you are at fending them off.  Think of your needs.  Get rid of them. Now and for all time.  Two days from now it will feel like you threw an anchor overboard.

      -Alan

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Yes, I would like to receive emails from Alan C. Fox. Sign me up!


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact