There is an old quote that says “If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” It has been attributed to Mickey Mantle, Eubie Blake, Mark Twain and others. Since the origin of the quote is up in the air, we’ll just focus on its wisdom.
I’m 46, coming up on 47 in a couple months. In my mind, that’s well past middle age. The odds on me living to 92 or 94 are low. That said, people are living longer and living healthier longer. So, it is possible that I am just now at the middle of my life. And while there are things I probably shouldn’t have done to my body over the years, I get the feeling I can change some of those habits and improve the outlook for the next 40+ years.
I’m not saying you won’t ever see me in a drive thru or wolfing down French fries like candy, but it is dawning on me that I really do need to take better care of myself. Getting more exercise and eating better.
Much at the urging of my bonus daughter Kaitlin, we are all looking for healthier foods. We are asking for meat and vegetables that are produced locally, for example. A couple months ago, we were traveling through Pocahontas County and saw farms and cows everywhere. After seeing yet another news report of tainted meat being recalled from several states over several months, it just makes sense that we look for meat produced closer to home. Obviously, it would be easy for tainted meat to come from a smaller place, but it just seems to make more sense to get it from an in-state farm than a major factory who-knows-where.
There is a nice side-effect to that as well. We are shopping locally, supporting local farmers and businesses and keeping that money in the state. This goes hand-in-hand with supporting local small businesses that actually make things. ABC News has their “Made In America” segment where they talk about things produced in the US. They frequently make the point that if we all bought just one more thing that was Made in America, it would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Maybe by making an effort to take care of myself a little better, and take care of my family a little better, I can actually help some other families take care of themselves a little better, too. That works for me.
Now it’s time to jump on the treadmill and see if I can undo some of the other excesses from my youth..
