It’s my birthday. Since we’ve had so many swimmers, it makes sense that on my 51st birthday I say that I’m “touching the wall”, as in turning around for the second half of the race. Ever since I was a little kid, I had designs on living to 100. I’m absolutely serious, 100 or more years.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve thought about what the next years will be like, and I don’t want them to be remaining years. I want them to be active, filled years. I’m not just here to hang around, I’m here to do stuff. To make a difference. To be one of those irritating people that everybody looks at and continues to say “How does he do it?”.

Living in our community I see active older folks all the time. I know the teenagers around here don’t appreciate it, but there are so many active octogenarians that it’s not even funny. These people in their 80’s and 90’s who are spry, mobile, and getting into all sorts of stuff. They come to their grandkids (and great-grandkids) sporting events. They cheer for the kids. They climb the stairs and clamber into the seats. They chow down on sports-related foods like hot dogs and nachos. They cuss at the idiot drivers in the parking lots. They are the people that I aspire to join.

To that end, I keep trying to exercise and eat right. Sure, I’m a diabetic and eating right has taken on a new twist. Do I love my cookies. You bet your cookie jar I do. Do I also realize that for every cookie that I eat I have to work it off on the treadmill, bike, or in the pool. I sure do.

You see, I want to be a pain in the butt to my kids. Not right now (I do an OK job of it currently), but in the future when they have kids. I want to the be Grandpa who teaches their kids all sorts of inappropriate things. I want to take my grandkids places, load them with sugar, get them all excited, and then take them home to their own parents. I want to get payback for all the stuff my kids have put me through.

So I have supreme motivation to hang around for another 49 or more years. By that time, all my kids will have had kids and will have dared to let me hang out with them. I’m going to be a bad influence, and I’m going to have a great time doing it.

So here’s to touching the wall and heading into the next half of my life’s race.