AGING

Reading the Face of Father Time

It’s the most urgent wake-up call you’ll ever receive. How will you answer it?

Photo from DepositPhotos

It’s just a concrete driveway, with a couple of chalk marks on it.

At first glance, you might think the white lines had been drawn by kids setting up a free-throw line.

But no, I drew them.

I did it as an exercise in perspective.

And I encourage you to try it.

But I have to warn you: It’s going to bring you face-to-face with Father Time, and a constantly shrinking future that we often treat as a limitless commodity.

The first line is placed at the beginning of the driveway.

The second line is exactly eighteen feet away. Those eighteen feet represent a lifespan of 90 years. If you do the math, each decade equals a distance of two feet.

Ninety years.

Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I’m hoping to benefit from the advantages of a healthy lifestyle and average genetics. But regardless of how or why, I’m planning to squeeze every remaining inch out of those eighteen feet.