One more year

Many people look forward to retiring at 60, 62 or 65. Others just keep going, doing whatever they’ve done all their life, and hoping that their health will help them in whatever they dream of doing in the future. So many people started hobbies and even careers when they were over 60. Socrates gave the world his wisest philosophy at 70. Cato began studying Greek at 80, while Petrarch started his study of Latin at 75. Michelangelo was designing structures while he was still 90, and painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling when he was 91. Johann Strauss was still composing after his 80th birthday, and Haydn wrote his oratorio ‘Creation’ after he was 67. Giuseppe Verdi wrote ‘Othello’ at the age of 74, then ‘Falstaff’ at 80 and ‘Four Sacred Pieces’ at 85. Titian produced ‘The Last Supper’ at 80 and the classic ‘Battle of Lepanto’ at 86! How about those writers....Milton wrote ‘Paradise Lost’ at 57 and ‘Paradise Regained’ at 63. Victor Hugo wrote ‘Les Miserables’ at 62 and George Bernard Shaw wrote his best plays after the age of 80. And Webster wrote his monumental dictionary at 70.

And as I turn 74 today, I am still going strong with my photography, watercolors, flute playing, cooking, writing regularly in local papers, posting on my blog daily, preparing and presenting PowerPoint talks, saying Mass daily and 5 Masses on weekends, and caring spiritually for a large Retirement Home. Please keep me in your prayers, as I assure you, you are all in mine.