On 2018-10-27 09:59, Charles Haynes wrote:
On Wed., 24 Oct. 2018, 10:48 pm Bruce A. Metcalf,
<bruce.metc...@figzu.com>
wrote:
On 10/24/2018 09:45 PM, Deepa Mohan wrote:
> I wonder how many people on this list are in their sixties?
Well, me for one, and I've been considering the thoughts posted to
this
thread with some care.
Me too, but I haven't seen Deepa's mail so while I'd love to contribute
I'm
afraid of missing context.
-- Charles
On November 17, assuming I make it 'til then, I'll turn 66.
As a novelist, I feel like I'm just hitting my stride (I've written 2
novellas & 1.5 novels; next novel coming Real Soon Now). I published my
first novel when I was 47, which is pretty late as far as first novels
go, but certainly not all that unusual.
As a teenager I was a volunteer firefighter in the rural/suburbanizing
town in New Jersey where I grew up. Things were very informal in those
days. I started going to fires when I was about 10 because my father was
a firefighter & I tagged along with him. The only rule was "don't get in
the way." I always figured that I would be a volunteer firefighter, like
my father & my uncle Harry. So when I was 30, living in Gardner, MA, a
small city with a mixed professional/volunteer department, I went to the
nearest station to sign up. I was told I was too old to join.
On July 4th, 2008, a very hot Independence Day, the local fire
departments put out a very nasty fire on Main Street in Vineyard Haven
-- it could easily have burned down half the town, but only 1 building
was lost. So like lots of townsfolk, my wife & I brought food to the
firehouse so the firefighters could have a Fourth of July cookout like
everybody else. I happened to speak to the chief, & told him I wish I
could do more to help. He asked me why I hadn't joined. When I told him
I assumed I was too old he laughed & gave me an application. So that was
how I became a firefighter at age 55. I did the whole training thing,
hundreds of hours' worth, including a bunch of live-fire courses at the
Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. Most firefighters that age take
supervisory roles, or do things like run the fire engines during a fire.
But I liked doing active fire suppression stuff, going into buildings on
fire, wearing the air pack, that kind of stuff. I was aware that if I
were to have a heart attack or even if I simply got tired, I would be a
hazard to my fellow firefighters. So that was a great motivator for me
to get into shape. I had worked out with weights in my 30's & 40's, but
over the last 10 years I've gotten much more serious about it. I retired
as a firefighter when I turned 65 (as required by Massachusetts state
law), but I still workout at the firehouse weight room 4 or 5
nights/week & ride my bike about 1,000 miles/year. I expect that
becoming a firefighter added years to my life simply by motivating me to
get & stay in shape.
It's harder to maintain muscle at this age, but I've found that with
regular strenuous exercise it can be done. I'm weaker than my younger
self, but only by about 20%. My main frustration is how much slower I am
now compared to decades ago. Take surfing for example. The biggest waves
I can surf now are much smaller that what I rode in my 20's. It takes a
few seconds for me to get to my feet. That's too slow for an 8-foot
wave, oh well.
I'm probably thinking slower too, but that's harder to judge.
With apologies for the length of this ramble,
jrs
