Turning Sixty
Years ago, Randy Stonehill had a song called, “Turning Thirty.” One stanza says:
“But I've still got my energy
And I've got most of my hair
And I'm not too old to rock 'n roll
And I'm not really scared of turning thirty”
When the song came out I was almost thirty, and a lot of it resonated with me. This weekend I turned sixty, and while the song still resonates with me, it is for completely different reasons.
Believe it or not, I think I have more energy at sixty than I had at thirty. When I turned thirty I weighed well over 400 pounds. I was so big I blotted out the sun. Young children would cool themselves in my shadow on hot days. I have lost well over 110 pounds since then, and I feel great. So chalk up a win for being 60!
I no longer have most of my hair, and what I have left is very gray, and I’m okay with that. I have embraced my bald head. I am not going to do the comb-over thing that is weirdly popular with guys my age. I refuse to get a toupee, the idea of wearing fake hair on my head would only appeal to me if I was in witness protection. So if you ever see me in a wig, don’t call me Jerry, my life may be at stake.
I’m not too old to rock and roll. I still turn up the music when I am in the car alone, although that may be due to not having great hearing anymore. However, I am too old to rap, or reggaeton or a lot of other stuff that passes for music today. I was at the gas station and the car next to me was blaring what is reportedly considered a song these days. I recognized a few curse words, and at first the “singer” sounded like a few of the crime scene victims I have seen over the years. These were victims that didn’t make it by the way. Once I got over the thought that I was listening to a snuff song, I just felt sad for kids these days. Man, does that paragraph make me sound old!
I was a little concerned over turning thirty. I put on a brave face, but it felt like a real shift in my life. In my early thirties it dawned on me that I was doing the things that people I looked up to did. I had a family, I was getting ready to buy a house, my life was changing. I wasn’t a kid anymore. I finally started understanding 1 Corinthians 13:11 that says, “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” I grew up at thirty, well, at much as I am grown up at all.
And while sixty sounds really old to thirty-year-old me, it sounds pretty young to me now. I look at my life and realize I have a lot of years left. There are years left to play, to laugh, and to love. My grandchildren provide me endless amounts of joy, and my work is meaningful and satisfying. Life is good.
One of the final verses of the song says:
“Oh, the eighties look like tough times
The world is turning sour
So I'll keep on serving Jesus
And await the final hour”
The stark difference between thirty and sixty is I realize I don’t have as much time left. I’m not sure how many years I have left to go, but I know I am going to make the most of them. When the day comes for me to take my final breath, I want to take it knowing that my life was spent well. I still have work to do…
Jerry