Wifey B: You dudes are funny. I can't help loving this place.
I just turned 41 this month and feel 21, just feel the same I always have. Hubby is 49 and will turn 50 in October and he's in excellent condition like a 30 year old and I regularly check out his physical condition. He always scores well.
DNA gets mentioned, but neither of us knows a thing about what to expect based on our parents. Mine were in horrible condition based on lifestyle but killed in an auto accident. Hubby's died young but mother had smoking related issues and father had smoking three packs a day plus alcoholic and died of a heart attack.
We are very active and do try to take care of ourselves. Five days a week during the pandemic, we've worked out at home since we can't play tennis or basketball or get exercise our normal ways. He does treadmill and very limited weights, more for flexibility and agility than muscles. I do treadmill but I do more weight machines with emphasis on upper body, especially chest area.
We seldom drink, we don't smoke, we don't use drugs. Yet none of this insures anything. We can get hit by a serious disease or injured in an accident any day. That's why we retired early, although this year we've been mostly unretired. We try to live each day to it's fullest. We are surrounded by an extended family we love so much.
We're so very thankful for all we have in life, especially those people special to us and each other. I think one goal we all should have in life is to live it each day in such a way that if tomorrow isn't available you can still say it was a good life. I could do that. I want many more years, but I don't need them to say I had a good life.
We need to learn and teach our kids the importance of happiness. If one's life is focused only on preparing to enjoy future years that may never come, that seems sad to me. I know how many struggle day to day just to survive. But the goal should be to enjoy each day as much as possible. Do what makes you happy. I know I loved every day of teaching and just seeing my hubby in business, he enjoyed all his days of business. Then we had each other. We dreamed of the future and retirement but while we were both working our lives were always good. We didn't have an expensive house, we kept cars and boats 7 years. We didn't spend money wildly, but we had a boat we used every possible day of the year. Our lives were simpler and happier than so many around us.
It's humorous to think about the fact that we both loved our jobs and little chance we'd ever lose them, yet we always kept ourselves in a position that if we did, we'd be fine. We could have lived fine on two minimum wage jobs. I saw two many people in jobs they hated but couldn't or wouldn't leave because they'd bought that expensive dream home plus they had to provide everything possible for their kids including expensive private schools. It made me appreciate our simpler life and wish they could break free from the stress of their lives.
We have money but never did we pursue it. We just did what made us happy along the way. So many quote the Bible and say "Money is the root of all evil." That's not what it says. It says, "The Love of money is the root of all evil." Greed, placing money over all else. He regularly got approached about jobs paying many times what he made but we always said "no," and we followed the misery suffered by the person who did take it. I taught school, definitely not the pursuit of money.
I think back to all our summer evening cruises on the lake. I'd tell him cute child stories from the day, proud and happy moments, and he's share funny things from the office or happy moments for employees. We seldom discussed the idiot administrators in the school district or the difficult business moments as they were a minor part of life.
We can't get a guarantee of a long, happy, healthy life but we sure can make sure we have a happy life. Oh, we're troubled by a lot of things going on today, but we have each other and our extended families and life is good. Taking care of ourselves physically is a part of getting as many good days as we can. We don't really have bad days because we just refuse to give in to them. Happy lives for all TF'ers please.
