Sixty, not out…

I turn 60 today – well the day this post went up (13 July 2017), lest you read it later. Here are some semi tongue in cheek comments I made about this in my regular column in the Advocate. It was also entitled, Sixty, not out…

I turn 60 in July. I know you’d never have guessed it, and find it hard to believe as well. But there it is, the big six zero looming up ahead.

So when does old age begin? According to an often cited study, the British consider themselves old at 59, the French at 63 and the Greeks (bless them) at 68. I haven’t spotted an official Australian figure, but my research did lead me to a paper suggesting that old age really only begins at 80, while the footnote commented that this is true only if you rule napping and knitting out, and work, the gym and travel, in. Though it wasn’t clear, I think the implication was that you actually had to do something whilst at the gym, and that the travel would be further than to the local supermarket.

I discovered helpful tips to avoid aging as rapidly as the British. Dressing for style, rather than comfort, was one of the more unpleasant ones, as was the reminder not to wear slippers or to say “back in my day”. Sighing whilst getting out of a chair is also apparently forbidden. Taking up gardening as a hobby is said to be a sure sign of an imminent demise, so I’m at absolutely zero risk there.

Given that this is an article about me, I should mention that my mother-in-law turns 100 the same month I turn 60. Of course I don’t feel old. A chat on the phone to her (she lives in South Africa) and I feel like a 20 year old (“and how are you my boy?”). And what kind of a biblical scholar would I be if I didn’t remind you that Moses was invited to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt when he was 80. You can imagine him reading this article and sniffing, “you’re a paltry 60. Tend a few sheep in the desert for another 20 years like I did, and you just might be ready to do something.”

And who knows… Moses might be right. For when you journey with God, anything can be around the corner.