In the ‘Game of Life’ so far, I’m Winning!

Getting older is a privilege

Recently, whenever I start a sentence with, “When I was your age….,” one or both of my kids will roll their eyes; One will say “Okay, Boomer” and the other one will say “You’re so old!”  I usually reply with “Yeah, I may be old, but I’m winning!”

I started thinking about this the other day because I believe that getting older is a privilege; a gift that shouldn’t be dismissed lightly.

In particular, I think about my parents. My father died at 62. He had always wanted to write when he retired but he never got that chance. Heck, he never even got to retire. He also didn’t get to travel, as he and my mother had planned. And he never got to see his grandchildren or great grandchildren, and celebrate family gatherings and all the life events those bring.

My mother, widowed at 60, lived another 27 years before succumbing to abdominal cancer. She learned to fly and got her pilot’s license at 62. She traveled extensively, visiting all five continents, and took her grandchildren on special trips. She went paragliding with my kids, among other adventures.  She was there for her grandchildren’s soccer games, birthdays, holidays, graduations and weddings. She met four of her five great-grandchildren. When she was 85 she took me, my sisters and our husbands on a private boat trip. For a week we toured through the waterways of Alaska fishing, crabbing, sampling oysters direct from the sea, beachcombing with bears, swimming in hot springs and kayaking near glaciers. She hosted Christmas at the family home with her entire clan six weeks before she passed. If ever there was a winner at life, it was my mother.

Of course not everyone can win. And it shouldn’t really be called ‘winning.’ The game of life, after all, is often determined by dumb luck, bad luck or fate. There’s the life cut short by a drunk driver; an incurable disease; or by simply being born into a place where famine, disease and unrest are daily companions. I am saddened by their losses.

But the longer I live, the more I get to see and experience, If I’m willing to embrace the opportunities. I’ve lived through a Cold War, the invention of the television, a presidential assassination, man walking on the moon, the invention of the computer and cell phone and now a pandemic. I was here when abortion became a right and I’m here, again, 50 years later, ready to fight the battle all over again.

For those who think that getting old means we simply fade away, useless and forgotten, I ask them to consider the life events and experiences they’ll miss by not embracing a long life. Sure, maybe we can’t climb Mount Kilimanjaro, but we have the opportunity to try; If not, we can bask in its beauty. We may not be able to play sports or exercise like we used to, but we may still have some game; If not, we can coach others. And while younger people may not think we can love as passionately as we did in our youth, I can assure you, the passions we have burn as brightly today as they did when we were young.

The point is, as old people, we have been given the gift of time—time to do more and experience more of what life has to offer. That time should not be squandered or demeaned. Each day is a gift. We should do whatever we can to enjoy the experiences that are presented to us, even if it just means we live to see another sunrise or sunset.

Sure, old age is “not for the faint of heart.” But, as I remind my kids every time they call me ‘old’, I’m still ahead in the ‘Game of Life’ and, given the alternative, I’d rather face what’s to come than succumb.