Mag offers glimpse of 64

I don’t know why I keep getting things in the mail from AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons. I don’t think that I am old enough to be on their mailing list, and changing their name doesn’t help a bit. A few days ago, though, I received a complimentary copy of AARP, The Magazine.

They had me. There on the cover was Paul McCartney – on the cover of AARP. Granted there aren’t many left, and he does look kind of old, but wow, a Beatle on AARP. And there were two captions I couldn’t pass over: “Paul is 64” and “William Shatner Relaunched.”

Here in a magazine for retired persons they had two of the primary inspirations from my childhood. What could the elderly want with them? And then it began to occur to me. Both those guys are a lot older than I am, and people are retiring a lot younger than they used to anyway. So I opened the magazine and read through it.

On the inside front cover was Susan McGraw, age 51. I don’t know who she is, but she looks good for 51. I didn’t expect to find anyone that young. I found Regis Philbin bowling on page 11. He looked OK, but he was advertising something with lots of disclaimers in fine print. I also found that Katie Couric and Goldie Hawn have been on previous covers. Wow, Goldie doesn’t look 60, and I know that Katie isn’t planning to retire anytime soon.

I found that AARP has a singles message board. I didn’t go there. I also found lots of medically related advertisements, as expected, but one had this lady with a leather jacket and a motorcycle in her living room. There were also handy little sayings such as “It’s hard to putt well when you’ve passed out from dehydration.” That one I’ll remember, but the ad for the “mesh-lined bikini bag” I’ll try to forget.

The all-red page about the “Retirement Red Zone” scared the hell out of me, but a few pages later I found that single women have “never been happier.” Me either, actually. So that works out well. It’s also a myth that “retirement is a time for single women to slow down and get a few more cats.” That’s bad news for the veterinarians I know.

On page 79 I learned that AARP is actually for anyone over 50. Why didn’t they say so sooner? That’s not so old. I can handle that.

So, what did they have to say about Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise and Paul, the cute Beatle? Lots of positive things, of course. You aren’t going to be looking for downer articles in AARP, The Magazine. It turns out that both Shatner and McCartney are getting up there, but both still have lots going on.

As the ‘60s song foretold, Paul will be singing “When I’m 64” this June 18. It seems like only “Yesterday,” not 39 years, since “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” changed my life forever. I’m not sure how it changed it, but it must have. I still remember the details of the album as if it was “Yesterday.”

Paul may be singing it, but he won’t be doing any of those things the song predicted such as “digging the weeds” or “wasting away.” The song also anticipated that he’d say “you’ll be older too” to his mate, but that part’s not at all true. In fact, both McCartney and Shatner have wives around 30 years their junior, each. Now there’s something to think about as I ponder my senior years. But Paul has a 2-year-old and I know I couldn’t handle that at 64. Or maybe I could if I was a billionaire. I’ll never know.

Also, though, neither one is retiring. Shatner is 75 and at another peak in his career. McCartney has released a new album and just finished a big tour. I won’t be doing any of that either in 10 or 20 years.

The message is, I think, that age doesn’t have to be a barrier to continued productivity. That I knew, however, without the help of Paul McCartney, Capt. Kirk, or AARP.

I’ve just been forced to semi-retire by a disability that began when I was a child. I had 40 years of relatively unrestricted potential, but now my activities are limited in a way that I couldn’t have imagined even just a few years ago. However, just as with the retiring single women who are supposedly so desperate, but are actually quite content, I don’t know that I’ve ever had the peace or the positive outlook I feel now.

North Idaho still has a lot to offer one who no longer can get out into its wilder aspects. I am learning that. I don’t know what exactly the future holds, but like Paul all those years ago, I’m anticipating what my life will still have to offer “When I’m 64.”