That was one of the life credos of fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who died Sunday at the age of 96. Not a bad idea. One of his other pieces of advice was, "If it tastes good, spit it out," which is carrying things a little past where I'd like to be myself.
LaLanne was probably healthier, though, at 96 than I am at 50 years younger. And it would probably take me 50 years to get to be as healthy as he was. Lots of people live a long time, but LaLanne was someone who lived a long time and got to enjoy the time he had -- that's more common than it used to be, it seems.
A man at the first church I served ranched cattle. When I met him, he was in his 80s and may have been close to 90 already, but he still worked every day, went to auctions and kept up his trading in livestock. I recall a conversation at an FFA show -- where some of the church kids were showing some animals -- that mentioned him.
"Make anything at the sale the other day?"
"A little. Haven't made much at a time in awhile."
"Ol' John did. He always seems to."
"Well, he's been doing this for more than 60 years. He could sell you your own cows and he'd still make money on the deal."
Anybody can hang around a long time. Bravo to the people like LaLanne and my parishioner who manage to live a long time too.
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