The New 60: In Dog Years

Everything in my life is predicated on different assumptions and possibilities than it was 15 or 20 years ago. As I approach 60, Sophie and I will peak at the same age and then, if nature takes its course, she will age more rapidly than I will. This is amazing to me. Still.

Outliving yourself brings with it so many gifts and certain challenges, such as outliving my father and my dogs, some of my friends and also, outliving my firm skin and springy knees. I’m not complaining. I’m observing it. I am savoring it.

My friend Wayde realized the other day that he is now the same age his father was when he died. He says every moment from now on he will, in a sense, have outlived his father’s experience of life. Wayde is only 32. My father was almost 94 when he died, so I may or may not have the experience of outliving my father, but I live in it as a possibility. After all, my family’s motto is "The Good Die Young. We Live Forever."