So…it’s my 78th  birthday today. Is that bizzare  or what? My beloved co-author Jen called but didn’t remember which one it was. When I told her, she had the kindness to say, “That’s ridiculous! I think of you as a kid. ” Sweet woman. I remember when Hazard Gillespie, my law mentor, turned 70 and I asked him what it was like. “Oh!” he said impatiently, “It”s ridiculous. It has nothing to do with me.” Lovely line. Then he  hurried off  to live another thirty years. Pretty nice ones,  at that. Harry called too, the dear man. Had to leave a message and said he hoped we were out on a fifty mile bike ride. We weren’t… but a twenty… just like most days.   I talked to my friend and favorite author, Jim Salter, too. He is ten years older than I and he was a serious fighter pilot in the Korean War. He has always  been on different terms with death than most of us,  and he lights my path. “Don’t give it a thought,” he said, breezily. “You’ll be fine. Terrific, in fact. Nothing to it.” There you go; I am nuts about him.

I wouldn’t put it quite the way Hazard did…”nothing to do with me.”. I would boast that my being 78 (and being absolutely tickled and proud with my life) has everything to do with me – and Hilary and the kids and my friends and colleagues and this wild YNY community we all have. I am proud as punch to be 78 and living exactly the way we do.  The books, the talks, the  sporting life, the friends and entertaining… the intensity and fun. This past year has been one of the nicest … and the most intense… of my life. How good is that? And I sense that is is going to go on, about like this, for a longish time. You never know, but that’s how it looks. Because this here Revolution we’re peddling is SO right and so strong. This stuff WORKS and this life… this Third Act… is so terrific. My pal David Bliss and I were talking … about birthdays and aging and the Revolution. As some of you know, he has really drunk the  YNY Kool Aid and really changed his life. He says that, “Too many people dread the third act, after the kids are out of the nest and the main job has died down. And that’s nuts, he says. Being my age (68) and being Younger This Year by a lot… this is a wonderful time in my life. Perhaps the best yet.”  And I think he’s right. Is there some bad stuff coming eventually?I guess so. But not today. Not this week and not this year or ten. For now, life is sweet. It is everything that Harry and Jen and I have told you… and much much more. It is better than we said. There you go. Chris