bio/cyber feedback

i want to live a long time; i always have.

i had a couple of old great aunts, sadie and odessa, twins i believe, who lived in a big old house a few blocks from my home, and riding my bike to visit them was always a scary trip. it was like having the addams family at my disposal, although they lacked lurch, uncle fester, gomez, morticia, wednesday and pugsley, thing and cousin itt. and they really didn't fit grand-mama, either. but the house was the same, in a small town sense.

the lasting impression they had on me was the value of a long life, lived well. they were happy, and so far as i knew or could tell,

they did as they wished.

and why not? they were in their 90s when i first started dropping by.

i had a great uncle who worked for ford motor company. i never really knew how he got started there, but when i became aware of him, he was photographer and travel editor for a little magazine they put out, called "ford times." it was a small, monthly or quarterly thing, like a little "national geographic" that featrured trips to exotic places with ford vehicles. uncle bill and aunt ethel traveled all over the world. they were both really great folks, open, loving, and had maybe five kids. and a bunch of grandkids. and for the most part, they were all really cool folks--hippies, liberals, a token republican [who later saw the error of his ways], a minister, and such. they lived in webster city, and we always had the best of times on their big old farm, west of town.

aunt ethel lived to her early 90s;

uncle bill lived on, still generally quite happy and spry,

into his early 100s.

when he died, to my knowledge, there was not a tear shed.

everyone was delighted at the life he led.

in my close, immediate family tree, the branches have not recently been that long. mom died of a heart attack at 58, my father lived longer, living to 71, but still endured a heart attack and stroke along the way. mom's folks died of cancer and a heart attack in their 50s.

dad's folks both had heart attacks in their 70s.

doesn't necessarily bode well, does it?

for these, and other reasons [see the first line of this story], i have chosen to take a radically different approach to living my life. and for assistance, from time to time i check out places like this now that i'm 50+,

or this place, before i turned 50.

i know, i konw. many of you will say,

"that's stupid, they don't know you," or whatever.

true, but they also can give you some pretty helpful little tips.

like this morning, when i learned that it's time for me to start taking a small aspirin with my daily vitamin and supplement regimine.

and to add 1500 mg of calcium.

okay, i will.

they tell me that this will add 1.5 years

to my 104 year life expectancy.

they also said that eliminating caffeinated coffee [+1.0 year]

and adding a "life partner" [+0.5 year] would help.

well, they didn't ask me about dogs, and i'm willing to further reduce my coffee consumption, but...

i'd have to think long and hard about that additional half year. you may recall that i celebrated the silver anniversary of my only divorce last march. i'd hate to ruin that run!