Photo by Evan Kafka
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E Street
Taking My Lumps
By Steven Slon, September & October 2008
From the editor's desk...
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About a year ago I went on a weeklong bike ride with some old friends. When I was very young, I wouldn’t have expected to do anything so physical at 50-plus. My dad sure wouldn’t have. He was a college athlete, but by his 50s he was hefty and sedentary. The trip was great, but the unexpected part was that all that time on a bike sparked an obsession with bicycling. It was a little like falling in love.
Remembering a Fighter
Photo by John R. Polito
“When I die, I might as well die alive,” wrote civil rights attorney Harriet McBryde Johnson. And die alive she did, after a full day’s work, on June 4, just shy of 51. Born with a degenerative neuromuscular disease and not expected to live past her teens, Harriet defied all expectations by becoming a leading advocate for the rights of the disabled. A longtime friend of this magazine, she leaves behind a legacy of hope for all whose lives she touched. We will miss her.
Now, when I was a kid, I could get dopily worked up about anything from a Willie Mays baseball card to a new chemistry set. It never occurred to me that grownups could get excited about things like that, too.
Being 50-plus holds some wonderful surprises. But to be perfectly honest...it also stinks.
In late spring, on a glorious day, I was out bicycling, hit a bump I didn’t see, lost control, and went flying over the handlebars. I landed head and shoulders on some soft dirt on the side of the bike path. The impact must have jerked me around in a bad way. I broke two ribs. Good news: the bike was unscathed.
Anyway, as I struggled through the better part of two weeks in searing pain, it seemed pretty ironic to be working on this issue’s appreciation of the pleasures of being older—“50 Reasons to Love Being 50+.” There’s no denying the bad stuff about aging. Do I need to make a list? There’s losing your looks, becoming more forgetful, being besieged by aches and pains—not to mention becoming more prone to injury. But…on reflection, the good stuff is really amazing. Our article celebrates the freedom of being 50-plus, the extraordinary memories we all share (British Invasion, anyone?), and the possibilities that life miraculously continues to afford us. Like these sudden little passions that overcome you, just when you thought you were too old.
What are you passionate about? Tell us here. We may include your story in a future issue.
Steven Slon
Editor, AARP The Magazine
editor@aarp.org
601 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20049
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