What three things do we want to do in the final quarter of our lives? asks Ronald C. Flores-Gunkle. A sensible question from an octogenarian, says this spring chicken septuagenarian.
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The enviable thing about being Ronald and my age is that we know it’s October in the calendar of life. Time is too precious to waste; leave Facebook to the callow sixty-year-olds.
Like Ronald, I am the reflective man in the middle of the painting. If that’s my only glass of wine today, and ‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,’ an insurance longevity calculator gives me a 75% chance of living another 13 years from my current 76. Of course, it wants me to buy an annuity.
Old people today are different from those depicted in 17th-century Italy by de Boulogne. They’re doing more than contemplating and receding into the background. They’re playing pickleball.
And traveling, first on my list. This is my partner Rebecca (74) and me in Namibia last summer.
In two days, we’ll board Amtrak’s Empire Builder in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, for a five-hour ride to Chicago and three days of sightseeing. One of our goals is to see more of America, particularly the America within a few hours of our home in northeast Iowa. On the horizon are half-week trips to Minneapolis, Kansas City, and, stretching it a bit, Salt Lake City.
This approach is partly a concession to age. Our journey back from the summer safari in Namibia, itself a final quarter goal, was a 32-hour travel day, including 22 hours in the air and 10 hours in airports.
Each time I twist a lid, whether for a pickle or a pill, I hear my doctor’s words, ‘Paul, we lose 1% of our gripping power every year after 50.’ Surely, the same is true for stamina, thus our shorter jaunts. And a more relaxing form of transportation, like
2.
The Empire Builder, from Chicago to Seattle. What an American name! And so true. On our two train stints, I will have these two books in my backpack.
And pull them out in the double-decker lounge car with the panoramic view. I’m reading these volumes by historian Grandin because I believe he might help me understand how the country without the acute accent over the E has taken two steps back on its trek toward a “More Perfect Union,” with the re-election of Donald Trump.
Ronald, that’s thing #2, understanding my country. I’m a retired academic, so this comes naturally. Here’s a quote from Myth (p. 270) that I hope also tantalizes you.
After centuries of fleeing forward across the blood meridian [America’s westward expansion], all the things that expansion was supposed to preserve have been destroyed, and all the things it was meant to destroy have been preserved. Instead of peace, there’s endless war. Instead of a critical, resilient, and progressive citizenry, a conspiratorial nihilism, rejecting reason and dreading change has taken hold. Factionalism congealed and won a national election.
In the margin, next to this quote, I’ve etched WOW.
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For a concluding moment, let’s return to de Boulogne’s Four Ages of Man painting and look again at the older man. He’s played, caroused, fought, and, now, perhaps, he’s at peace, ready to let go. There will be others who will take up his burdens.
Ronald, like you, I’m not quite ready for this stage. I’m still in the doing mode, with my lists. But relinquishing my grip on the world, I think, will not be as hard as I once thought.
My 3rd goal is to hold this loosening idea in my imagination, not to fear it.
It’s not as far away as it once was.
Besides, when I release my grip on the world, Donald Trump loses his stranglehold.
Ahh.
