Today was a milestone, because today I've lived longer than my father's lifespan. Philosophically, to me it means that I should treat every day with respect and reverence, because it's a day my father never lived to see.

My dad passed away in December, 1987, age 77 and well into his 78th year of life. Today, I'm at the same point, age-wise, but in considerably better shape. My dad was an inveterate smoker, being raised in rural Kentucky, where planting and smoking tobacco was a way of life. He began smoking at age 11, and was still smoking unfiltered Camels when he died. His lungs must have looked like a coal mine inside, and his heart was enlarged and laboring. In his final year, he was on oxygen for most of it. His younger brother, also a chain smoker, died a year and a half before he did, of lung cancer.

Dad was a great father. He taught me a lot in my youth, teaching me such things as how to make a miniature electric motor out of paper clips and coiled copper wire. It was he who first taught me to shoot, and with whom I bought my first rifle.

He really enjoyed his vacations, as he was a hard-working guy who really needed to get away for a few weeks every year. I fondly remember our vacation road trips to spots all over the United States and even into Canada.

He had to drop out of college before completing his bachelor degree - the Great Depression and a lack of funds forced that. Yet he rose from a junior teller at a small town bank to assistant controller of the largest banking chain in the Rocky Mountain States, able to retire at age 55 through wise investments.

But today, he's no longer my "old man." I'm older than he ever was. It's a strange feeling, but it makes me painfully aware that we are all mortal, and that each day from here on is a treasure.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

My father died when I was 18 years old. I'm 71 now and outlived him by a lot. He drank, smoked unfiltered cigarettes and never went to a doctor for anything. As I remember, he was not much of a role model but, as I was growing up, it was what it was and I accepted that. He died of cancer, waiting too long for any treatment. I still do remember the good things from back then and I did well as I was growing up.

Mr. John I always look forward to your threads and the interesting photos you post. I have a few years, about 6, before I outlive my father. He died at the young age of 59, and was a life long smoker too. Like your father , he was raised in South Georgia where the only two crops that really made any money (sometimes) at that time were tobacco and peanuts.

Great post Sir. It really has stirred my thoughts today.

I have long outlived my father, who passed away at age 46 from cancer, I was only 10 when he died. I'm holding out for outliving my mother who lived to 101. I just hope I don't get the Alzheimer's like she did.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Thanks for your post, John.

Mom called when I was in my first Air Force tech school to tell me my dad had passed. I was 19. He was 58 and keeled over from a heart attack in his garden. I never knew the guy or had any contact with him.

When I turned 59 I had reached a monumental life goal, one that had sort of niggled at me for forty years. I'd made it, and I was free of the load. Now, five years later, every new day is like winning the lottery.

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Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

My father lived to 92, he had 91 good years, his brother lived to 95 and his sister lived to 106 and they all were in good health almost to the end, I hope I don't last that long.

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Don

My Dad passed in '86 at the age of 64. I'm currently 60 and a birthday coming up in October.

He was not a health nut - to say the least.

I achieved a Black Belt in Bok Fu (Kenpo) at the age of 55, so perhaps I have done a bit more to keep fit.

We'll see soon enough.

Nice post John. I often think of my father, who has been gone many years now. He lived to 86, my mom to 96, and I'm now 70. I still go to work every day(well, I'm in higher ed, so that means I work about 9 months a year), but I'm still working. I feel about like I did at 50, and stay active.

Hope that you enjoy many more years, and continue in your great writing career.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

My Dad died at 70 from Alzheimer's
His Mother died at 70 from Cancer

Every Day is Precious

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Compact 9mm Just my $0.02

My father died 1 month before his 95th birthday. It may sound strange but I do not want to live that long. I am now 67 and if I went tomorrow I'd be ok with that.

This thread and the thoughts it's inspired have been a blessing. Thanks, all of you, and God bless you.

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Now go make God proud...

My dads still alive at 86 and still riding motorcycle! His brother is 84.
With my track record I hope I make it to 70!

Never, Never give up!

My Father, (not my old man, I detest that), died at the age of 49 from a stroke. I was 9 years old, almost 10. I worried and wondered for years if I would live past 49. I am the youngest of 4 siblings living, at the age of 72 years, 11 months. The oldest is 85.

A man that is privileged to live to adulthood and have his parents still alive is truly blessed.

Leon

My mother passed away at 56 after a two year battle with cancer of the brain. My father remarried a short time later to a woman 15 years younger than he was. Of course us kids thought the worse of the situation, but it turned well for them. He lived another 31 years and ended up being married to his second wife longer than he was to my mom. In his advanced years, he contracted diabetes and prostrate cancer, as well as having both knees replaced. When the second knee surgery was botched, he ended up needing an Amigo go more than a few steps. Because his wife was younger, she was able to take care of him, and it worked out well for him. He passed away at 88.

Like others, I'm in better physical condition at my age than dad was. Also like others, I'm not certain I want to live that long. His uncle lived to be 102 - and I damn sure don't want to do that. Without my wife, even 88 looks lonely and questionable.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

My father died at 72, a few months before his 73th birthday.
Just meat and potatoes guy.
Same with my mother.
Both neither ate right or took vitamins.
I've beat them both by three years so far.
Of the three things that can kill you, Drink, smoking and wild woman.
I only gave up the wild woman with my present wife. That would have ended me quickly as I did show her how to handle and shoot a handgun gun!

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

Truth #1: Most of the posters here have lived longer than their parents.
Truth #2: The ones who died younger aren't posting.
Truth #3: Yup, I got a flair for the obvious!

John, congratulations on achieving a significant milestone, if you have either a son or daughter, I hope that you can set the age bar higher for them.

I am currently 58. My dad passed in '07 at the age of 78 from a form of blood cancer that fortunately is not hereditary. My mother passed at 73 in '08, seven months after my dad. She had a stroke during bypass surgery, and never woke up.

When I had my accident a few months before my dad died, the helo medivac crew lost me twice on an 8 minute flight. I have a young family despite my age, and I HAVE to be here for them. I have fought too hard to overcome my disabilities to raise my children, therefore, I will fight like h*** to remain here for them. I know that the Lord has His plan for me, but I still have to fight for my children's sake.

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Judge control not gun control!

“It was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin through the mountains of a night. Goin through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin. Never said nothin. He just rode on past and he had this blanket wrapped around him and he had his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. About the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up.”

Excerpt From: McCarthy, Cormac. “No Country for Old Men.”

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Possum—The other white meat!

I'll never have your experience, John. My dad died at ninety of a ruptured aortal aneurysm. He rarely drank, and I'm a long-time-sober alcoholic. He didn't smoke nearly as heavily as I did for forty years.

I'll soon turn seventy-nine, but it's clear to my doctors that ninety emphatically is not in the cards for me. Which is okay. Dad was perfectly sharp mentally almost until the end, but terribly frail and unhappy about being old. He felt trapped in his worn-out body.

I don't want to reach that state. I really don't.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Beautiful.

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Oh well, what the hell.

this has all occurred to me. My folks were born the same year, 1913. My mom died at age 81 despite watching her diet and had quit smoking back in the 40's when she started having kids. She had mini-strokes and dimentia. My dad died 11 months later. He smoked unfiltered cigarettes all his life, up over 2 packs a day after mom died, and got unhealthy doses of sun playing baseball into his 20's. He was lucky enough to die in his sleep, still healthy enough to walk 9 holes of golf on a hilly course without complaining about it. Not sure where that leaves me. I see my PCP, dermatologist and cardiologist (my choice, no heart attacks) twice a year, get the colonoscopies, EKG, etc. Now I'm over 60, retired and just like many, wondering if I'll go before my money runs out.

My grandfather died at 79 of heart problems, my father his son died at 69 same thing. I always worried I would go at 59, well I am 63 so I have a chance to live as long as dad. Mom is still going at 84.

My father died at 88. I still have five more yers to go before I equal him. I hope I make it; I have a lot of shooting left undone.

My dad was a Merchant Marine, Fireman and Water Tender,he was lost at sea when the entire ship and crew basically basically vanished from the earth---for many many years afterward I would see him across the street or he would walk past a window of a restaurant I was at, or I would see him just turning a corner ahead of me, once while I was stopped at a red light he was walking across the street in front of my car,I was looking right at him and he stopped for a second to stare at me, then he walked on----It was not him any of the times, of course, just wishful thinking on my part, but for years,I expected him to knock on my door and walk in.
I guess it was the fact that we never had any closure with his death
All of you who had parents that you got to enjoy and spend time with and are parents yourselves, keep your loved ones close and cherish the time you spend together----you never know what could happen.
olcop

Thanks for the special story John, it is making folks think.

My Dad lived to be 86, he had dementia and Alzhiemers the last 10. Mom went at 82, 61 days after Dad passed. He had no quality of life, it gets very bad, we decided to not allow medical intervention if he became ill, pneumonia took him. We think Mom held out hope Dad would recover and would come home, she had a light stroke and was in rehab. We think she just cashed it in when she realized Dad was not coming home and she wasn't going home either.

My Paternal grandparents lived into their 90's along with most of Dad's sisters living into their 90's.

My Maternal grandparents were in their 80's, Moms siblings except 1 lived into their late 80's and 90's.

I feel 18 or 40 except for my knees.

I got really sick a year ago, I've been much more active. I've worked in the heat most of the summer on the farm. losing my belly, not fast enough, and worked many days in the 95-99 degree heat with wet bulb of 108 one day. Wet towel on neck, take breaks, drank lots of Gator aid early on but not so much now.

I did not hit it like when I worked construction summers in my teens, but still got work done.

Then Les who is slightly older than me, is still working.

Les, 3 years after retirement this Sept 1st and I'm having going back to work dreams. I had issues with the company that handles AT&T's insurance for phone replacement. They sent me an email asking how well they did, I was brutally honest and said you are welcome to call me. The lady pulled up her cast iron big girl britches and waded in. We got to the bottom of the problem. At the end of the call I asked if there were openings in her department, one of the things I best liked about my phone job was making customers feel special and resolving issues. I do miss that. She said maybe, call. Later I realized I forgot to get the number. Whew close call.

Here flip this coin.....
Great dialogue in that movie.

My father died at 84...when my sister could no longer care for him where he had moved to Chico, CA, we got together to get him into assisted living quarters...he died, in his big chair, in his mobile home after his second wife had passed away, watching the SJ Sharks...losing again in a playoff...he was a stubborn man, and I wish I had spent more time with him when I could. Never heard about his time in the service, never asked..wish I had. Sergeant in the Marine Corp. You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Well, funny you should post that right now, and funny that I should just now see it. Yesterday was my oldest son's 39th birthday, and since he lives an works in DC, I saw him last weekend. But I celebrated it by prepping for a colonoscopy, which I had this morning. Yes, I'm still working but I had to take a day off from work. Dr. came in after I woke up from the anesthesia and said: "No cancer, no polyps, everything's ok, see me in 10 years". For me, this is a big deal, since I had stomach cancer 4 years ago, so I worry a little about these things. In 10 years I'll be 80. I'll let you guys know how that works out. 10 years from now.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I had one a few years ago. No eat, just drink and be merry.....

Les, upping the ante, see you in 20 years.

Duane.

He took excellent care of himself. I've had diabetes since I was 26 and don't expect to outlive him.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"