What keeps you alive and (mostly) well?

At being right at 65, the last 2 trips to the ER kept me alive. Period! Glad to be here and thank full when the feet hits the floor in the mornings. however i do not live in fear, i have a good time regardless.
 
My oldest daughter had a friend 20 years ago or so, when she was in grade school, they lived around the corner from us. I knew her dad pretty well, lets call him Kevin. Well that was his name, so its a good thing to call him, Anyhoo, he was the nicest guy I probably have ever met, he didnt drink, smoke, cuss, I never heard him say a bad word about anyone. He looked to be in great shape, he was probably 6' 170#, he only had 1 vice, he liked to have a small bowl of ice cream in the evening while they watched tv. One night his wife gave him his bowl of ice cream, he took a bite or two and told his wife the ice cream just didnt taste good for some reason, so she took it and told him she would put it back in the freezer and maybe he would want it later. She went to the kitchen and came right back, and he was dead. 42 years old, no family history of heart problems, just dead.
She never re-married, and still lives in the same house, a very nice lady. When the good lord decides to take you home, you are going home. Period.
 
JayhawkCurtis said:
My oldest daughter had a friend 20 years ago or so, when she was in grade school, they lived around the corner from us. I knew her dad pretty well, lets call him Kevin. Well that was his name, so its a good thing to call him, Anyhoo, he was the nicest guy I probably have ever met, he didnt drink, smoke, cuss, I never heard him say a bad word about anyone. He looked to be in great shape, he was probably 6' 170#, he only had 1 vice, he liked to have a small bowl of ice cream in the evening while they watched tv. One night his wife gave him his bowl of ice cream, he took a bite or two and told his wife the ice cream just didnt taste good for some reason, so she took it and told him she would put it back in the freezer and maybe he would want it later. She went to the kitchen and came right back, and he was dead. 42 years old, no family history of heart problems, just dead.
She never re-married, and still lives in the same house, a very nice lady. When the good lord decides to take you home, you are going home. Period.
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A long-time friend had just retired. He did some gardening that day. Came in for supper then sat down to watch the news. 10 minutes later, he was dead. A genetic heart defect, there since birth, ruptured.

Another very good buddy had just retired and bought a new boat. He had a persistent cough that didn't clear up. Went to the Doc and found that he had advanced lung cancer. He died within the month.

And that's why I keep working: retirement kills you!
 
Juliery said:
And that's why I keep working: retirement kills you!
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My Grandpa retired at age 58 due to health problems. At that time he had paid into SS for 19 years.

He had a good surgeon and his problems got taken care of.

He died at age 95, after collecting SS for 37 years.

The Govt. didn't count on his longevity.
 
I think we all have a "good friend or relative" story that throws all of this out of wack.

My step dad worked almost every day of his life for 50+ years, blue collar, construction, ran a bull dozer, heavy equipment, up at 5AM, out the door at 6, home at 7PM, dinner, a beer, go to bed. Always had a "backyard" project as well, usually a boat of some kind. Smoked and drank until his first heart attack then stopped cold turkey. He got hit by a backhoe bucket once, thrown across the job site. Went to the ER, back on the job site the next day. He had a bizarre/strange hand issue where his hand started to lock up, and he had excruciating pain. They never figured it out. It forced him to retire in his late 60s. At the same time my folks moved into an apartment. I remember him calling me asking if I had a project for him, he was stir crazy, bored. A few months later he was diagnosed with dementia and ended up in a senior living facility. 4 years later he died. I truly believe not working, not having a project or something to do killed him.

One of my good tennis buddies died in his mid 40s. Perfect health on the outside. Guys went out for beers one night. He went home, wife found him dead in the bathroom the next morning, heart. Another good tennis buddy died recently from a brain aneurysm, same thing, perfect health, early 50s, died in hours.

Events like this are one reason I doubled my boat budget and bought another boat. Do it now while I still can.
 
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mrsrobinson said:
I think we all have a "good friend or relative" story that throws all of this out of wack.

My step dad worked almost every day of his life for 50+ years, blue collar, construction, ran a bull dozer, heavy equipment, up at 5AM, out the door at 6, home at 7PM, dinner, a beer, go to bed. Always had a "backyard" project as well, usually a boat of some kind. Smoked and drank until his first heart attack then stopped cold turkey. He got hit by a backhoe bucket once, thrown across the job site. Went to the ER, back on the job site the next day. He had a bizarre/strange hand issue where his hand started to lock up, and he had excruciating pain. They never figured it out. It forced him to retire in his late 60s. At the same time my folks moved into an apartment. I remember him calling me asking if I had a project for him, he was stir crazy, bored. A few months later he was diagnosed with dementia and ended up in a senior living facility. 4 years later he died. I truly believe not working, not having a project or something to do killed him.

One of my good tennis buddies died in his mid 40s. Perfect health on the outside. Guys went out for beers one night. He went home, wife found him dead in the bathroom the next morning, heart. Another good tennis buddy died recently from a brain aneurysm, same thing, perfect health, early 50s, died in hours.

Events like this are one reason I doubled my boat budget and bought another boat. Do it now while I still can.
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I spent the first 5 years of my post college career at McDonnell Douglas (Boeing now). The average life span of an engineer post retirement was less than 4 years. This was a problem for the company because a lot of those guys had specialized knowledge that was still useful and would be called upon to consult. The company commissioned a study to find out why. Turns out the vast majority of these guys lived to work. They didn't have hobbies, their hobby was work. These are guys who took vacation days and still came to the office to work on their program because the budget was running out. If they took vacation, they didn't have to charge their time to their program. These guys literally died of boredom.

My dad was an engineer at McDonnell Douglas as well. He was passionate about his work and traveled for business 45 weeks/year. But he was a work to live guy. As such he retired at 60 and never looked back. He always had a project around the house and also cherished his grand children. But for a rare disease caused by the exposure to dioxin (ironically as a result of one of his projects in the back yard) he would still be alive and be 91 now.
 
Yeah, my step dad literally never took a vacation, we as a family never took a vacation. He usually did not work Sundays, but did if a job was behind schedule. I think it was his work ethic as well as we were poor (I now know that as an adult) why he had to work so much. I admire him as an adult. He was living out of a pick up truck when he met my mom, with her 4 kids, and he took it all on.

On the flip side my paternal father (an engineer as well) is 85, alive and well, retired a few times, came back because he was missed it, but finally retired in his early 70s. He has lots of projects (mostly landscaping/yard like me), plays tennis a few times a week, has a social life, etc.

Being a part of a community, having projects are factors IMHO.
 
We were solidly middle class. My dad made good money, but he was "giving" 60%+ to the government. But one thing that was non-negotiable with him was vacation. We went on a 2 week vacation every year by car (I now refuse to drive over 4 hours anywhere. More than that, we fly. My wife doesn't understand, but she pretends to). The only time we didn't was when the company wanted him to go to Douglas in Long Beach for 2 months. We rented an apartment and went with him. For a 12 year old, that was pretty cool.
 
Still stinks that Mac isn’t around, that was an awesome company

highslice said:
I spent the first 5 years of my post college career at McDonnell Douglas (Boeing now). The average life span of an engineer post retirement was less than 4 years. This was a problem for the company because a lot of those guys had specialized knowledge that was still useful and would be called upon to consult. The company commissioned a study to find out why. Turns out the vast majority of these guys lived to work. They didn't have hobbies, their hobby was work. These are guys who took vacation days and still came to the office to work on their program because the budget was running out. If they took vacation, they didn't have to charge their time to their program. These guys literally died of boredom.

My dad was an engineer at McDonnell Douglas as well. He was passionate about his work and traveled for business 45 weeks/year. But he was a work to live guy. As such he retired at 60 and never looked back. He always had a project around the house and also cherished his grand children. But for a rare disease caused by the exposure to dioxin (ironically as a result of one of his projects in the back yard) he would still be alive and be 91 now.
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mrsrobinson said:
I think we all have a "good friend…

One of my good tennis buddies died in his mid 40s. Perfect health on the outside. Guys went out for beers one night. He went home, wife found him dead in the bathroom the next morning, heart. Another good tennis buddy died recently from a brain aneurysm, same thing, perfect health, early 50s, died in hours.

Events like this are one reason I doubled my boat budget and bought another boat. Do it now while I still can.
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Sounds like a good reason not to play tennis!
 
Pirate Lady said:
Anyone hear from Chris? Alive, won? Will toast another beer to him.
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Lol, I am alive!

this was just a long Saturday run of 13.1 miles, my first official half marathon will be 2 weeks from tomorrow. I just wanted to know, in my head, I have done it before… lol

509A96A5-B8BC-4E9C-89F6-F3011BC933DC.jpeg
 
Pirate Lady said:
13 miles? I read that right? You ran 13 miles! Are you nuts! Car broke?
That is not a sport, that is insane.
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And not one person was chasing me either, I am def a little nuts! but I burned 2400 calories, that’s a lot of food and extra drinks for a couple days
 
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Getting back on track of what keeps us well, a big part of what keeps me well happens when I walk the dog in the morning. He's about 13-14 years old and he and I move along slowly. He sniffs and piddles and takes his time. He's not on a leash during this part of our walk so he has freedom to just wander where he wants.

Where we walk is in a field along the Columbia River. Our walk starts about 0700 and usually lasts about 30-40 minutes. During that time flocks of geese and ducks fly over, often low enough I feel like I can almost reach up and touch them. That really stirs the heart of this old duck and goose hunter. We often see Pelicans gliding low over the water, hawks soaring high above, looking for food and an occasional bald eagle or two.

It also tickles me when I see my wife in our backyard feeding the flocks of ducks and geese. It's not uncommon to see a couple dozen ducks and often 15-20 Canada geese. She has 2 geese that eat right out of the scoop, all the while talking to her.

So that's what keeps my old heart just pumping along.
 
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Mostly bourbon and poor decisions...

I really have to start working on the diet and exercise a little more. The exercise part I'm decent with it's the diet that's killing me.
 
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