It’s All About Me
I am the center of the known universe
I am the center of the known universe
This story is about me. It’s not about you. How can it be about you? I don’t even know you. So… about me.
A bit self-serving what? Well yes, it is.
But, by sharing my story with you, I want to pass on a few thoughts, a few ideas, that may be of benefit to those who care to listen.
We all know that life is a journey. We know the endpoints, where we began and where we will end. As has been said many times before, it’s what we do along the way that matters. We should make the most of it.
By today’s standards, my journey is not nearly over. Approaching three-quarters of a century with the probability of seeing the meter roll past one hundred. It’s amazing really. Not many years ago reaching sixty was a great milestone.
Mostly, I have enjoyed these past seven decades. I squandered my youth on my girlfriend, my love and my partner of over fifty years. The most important thing to me has been family. I have always put my family first.
It’s time for a midcourse correction. It’s time to put me first.
Well maybe I will keep the family in mind, but I am going to squeeze the most out of these next years and this is how I plan to do it.
The goal is to be happy. I want to be able to enjoy the things that make me happy, so the first order of business is my health. I need to ensure I am fit enough to enjoy this journey. I see my doctors regularly and I am not ashamed to bring my complaints to them. My doctors have responded by providing good solutions, and good guidance.
My stretch goal is to live forever. Probably not going to happen, but hey… dreams can come true.
A year ago, this month, I woke up in a cardiac intensive care unit. Waking up there was not a surprise. It was comforting to find myself back in the land of the living. A few hours earlier I had said goodnight to my partner and my son and went to sleep. My surgeon and her team sliced me open and replaced my Aortic Valve. Today, a simple valve job.
My recovery was on track to be just as simple except for this atrial fibrillation thing I have had going on for years. It became worse. The drugs I was taking to control the afib, were as bad as the problem. Not good. Back to the operating theater. Do they still call it that?
This time, while on the table, I went to sleep to the sound of my heartbeat resonating through a speaker… beep — beep — — beep — beep beep — beep. Totally irregular as I was used to. I woke up a few hours later the speaker reported a rather boring… beep — beep — beep — beep. Boring is good yes?
While I slept the team had pushed a catheter up my leg into my heart. They had sent a small cartridge up the catheter and dropped it into my ventricle. They also burned the electrical connection between the atrium and the ventricles. I will forever be paced by a small spark plug in my heart.
Well for as long as the battery holds out. Ten years I’m told.
Today, about nine months on, I am planning how I will take over the world. I feel great. I can peddle my bicycle twenty to thirty miles in a day and enjoy it. My forty-pound dog enjoys being taxied along in her trailer during those rides. No land speed records. I won’t be riding a century for a while yet, but soon.
The point is that I can plan to conquer the world because I am looking after ME. Selfish bugger that I am, I come first. It’s MY life. I want to enjoy it. I want to be able to love my partner, my dog, my kids and the rest of the world. Well, maybe not the entire world.
I can’t do that unless I’m healthy and neither can you. I don’t care if you’re an axe murderer. I mean really, how can you expect to swing that axe properly if you’re not healthy and fit, so get with the program. Eat better. Stay active. Keep your mind busy. Enjoy the occasional afternoon nap.
But most of all, enjoy your friends and family. (leave the axe in a tree)
Be the person your dog thinks you are. Be a superhero!
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