Let's enjoy the final days of this aging summer
(No. 101) AI illustrations, $50 croissants and smart tips for getting older well, by Stephen P. Williams
Old men at the beach, illustration by Stephen P. Williams
A man of the present revisits a song of the past
I manage a NYC building with several rental apartments. This week as I watered the small roof garden I inadvertently disturbed a nest of wasps and they swarmed me, stinging me about a dozen times. On another day, after I’d dug up the dirt in our sidewalk tree pit to replace a flower bed that had been ravaged by dogs and people over the summer, I noticed rat burrows in the newly turned and fertilized soil. That evening my daughter spotted a mouse running across our kitchen. Agggh. I really don’t like killing things (although I admit I eat meat regularly), but I felt a duty to the tenants and my own sanity to call in reinforcements to help me conquer the invaders. I’ve known an exterminator named Leon Brown for decades. He’s now in his 70s and we have great affection for each other. Whenever I need help, he boards a subway in the Bronx with his toolkit and comes down to see what he can do. After he dealt with the tree pit, I went and got us coffees, and he told me about the late 1970s, when he was a musician in Jamaica, at the time Toots and the Maytals and Bob Marley were crashing through the world. One of his bands was called The Mighty Fantels. I called them up on YouTube and as we listened, Leon started singing along with himself from 50 years ago. It was beautiful to see this older, very hardworking man connect with the joys of his youth, with no sense of regret, just happiness. That’s a feeling I want to duplicate when I think about accomplishments of the past, and where my path has led me to today. Witness here:
Mini croissants are the new rage, apparently
Illustration by Stephen P. Williams
If you want to age well, do not eat a bowl full of high-priced mini-croissants for breakfast. The expense will ravage your retirement fund and the empty carbs will ravage everything else.
Go hard
Regular cardio makes life easier as we age. So does resistance training, such as lifting weights or doing pushups. But weights twice a week and cardio three times a week supercharges the benefits you would get from just doing either alone. I can say from experience that if you think you hate weights, you will probably think again if you do resistance exercises regularly for a month. The benefits -- in how you climb stairs, how well you open pickle jars, and how great you look -- will change your mind.Â
This probably isn’t very relatable
Illustration by Stephen P. Williams
Catherine Deneuve says it’s easier to be an old actress in Europe than in America.
Thinking of skipping the dentist? That might lead to not remembering your appointments at all.
Oral bacteria that can be managed, but aren’t, may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
Hey, thank you for being here. I so much appreciate it. Sign up for a paid subscription if you also appreciate it! That helps me take the time to put this out.