What a Stupid Question (Or Not?)

Age Matters in Answering It

I was doing an interview to promote my new book when the podcaster asked me a stupid question: Where do you see yourself in ten years? I had not been impressed with the interviewer and this did not add to my regard for him. Didn’t he research me at all? Did he not know I am seventy-three?

But then, my son-in-law gave me a book as a Chanukah gift: 300 Writing Prompts – the Complete Self-Exploration Journal. And guess what, right there on page 179, the same question presented itself. It was in a section of the book about ambition, which I suspect is how the podcaster would have categorized his question as well.

And whereas being overly ambitious at seventy-three is stupid – and a bit tiring to think about much less to be – if we pluck the question out of that category and look at it by itself, it’s profound. It’s asking me to answer a couple of major philosophical questions – what is my purpose, and where am I going?

These are important questions for me…and for my fellow baby boomers since time is not on our side. According to actuarial tables from the Social Security Administration, a woman who is currently seventy-three years old has 14.08 more years to live. A man of the same age has 12.16 years.

This brings us to a sense of time urgency, and that topic always brings me to the famous quote from Hillel: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when?

I have spent a lifetime trying to understand this golden-rule-like quote. Was I supposed to take care of myself and others and manage the “now” in three-part harmony? Or was it a two-part harmony taking-care-of-others-now and taking-care-of-myself-now?

After seventy-three years, taking care of others and myself is ingrained. But what about the “now”? Does it stand alone? Is that the important part after all? Especially as “tomorrow” grows smaller?

As I look at the hopefully 14.08+ years ahead of me, and think about my purpose and my direction, I thank the interviewer for sending my thoughts in this direction, and do my best to answer him…

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So Mr. Podcaster, where do I see myself in ten years? I see myself pretty much where I currently am. After all, each Monday as I create a calendar page for the week, I put an important reminder at the top: All of my dreams have come true. Which they have! What I wanted in life was to have children, and I do. And as an extra bonus, I have wonderful children-in-law and ten grandkids. It’s more than I dared to dream.

But wait! I think you asked that question professionally. And so I will answer that too. I think I will still be writing my blog because I love to write – and I think it’s important to chronical the aging process – but I have no desire to publish more books. I regret I never had a best seller, but that was not fully in my control. I did the part that was: I wrote to the best of my ability, and let “the universe” take it from there.

There is one thing professionally that I still want to do. I have long been intrigued with the statement “the joy is in the journey” and with the fact that the word JOY is part of the word JOurneY. Years ago, I designed one of my quilts-with-words using this concept. I never got around to making it. Whenever I think of working on it, I think it will be my magnum opus. I chuckle because I have no idea where such a lofty thought comes from, but there it is.

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Which takes me to the first place I remember hearing about a magnum opus, Charlotte’s Web. In that children’s book, the spider, Charlotte, saves the pig, Wilbur, by spinning words into her web. The web is above his pen, and the words describe him – Some Pig, Terrific, Radiant, and Humble. As amazing as these feats are, by story’s end, as she is languishing and dying, she shows Wilbur something more amazing still. It’s what she calls her magnum opus – her egg sac, with over five hundred eggs.

It’s funny to see myself in Charlotte, both as a spinner of words and as a person proud of my progeny. I am grateful, though, to be UNLIKE her in that I am not languishing and actively dying.

As I look down the road ten years and see myself at age eighty-three – which is such a shocking concept – I hope I will be saying these same things. But that is not fully in my control. I will do the part that is: I will take care of myself to the best of my ability, and let God/nature take it from there.

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If you like my writing, I hope you will check out my new book, Chai on Life. “Chai” is a mystical word in Hebrew. It is pronounced “high” making this book High on Life with a Jewish slant. It is available wherever books are sold including Amazon.