There is an old saying, time flies when you’re having fun. If it’s true I had the time of my life last year. It literally flew by for me and I have to admit I did have a lot of fun. The start of every New Year provokes a lot of thoughts, regardless of ones age or status. I have always looked forward to the coming year. I am always full of resolutions determined to at last put my life and affairs in order. This year is no different from the last fifty. My resolutions have not changed appreciatively in all that time. 

My number one goal last year and for several previous years was to tame my terrible temper. No one will be surprised to learn I did not arrive at that end. There are some who may say my tantrums are worse. Believe it or not at least in my own heart I always make a conscious effort to try. Although it is not always obvious most of my anger is directed toward me. “You dammed old fool,” is an expression I find myself using more and more often. I am very aware that much of my anger is simply caused by the effects of age. 

The lack of ability to think clearly and plan ahead is the crux of my problem. Lack of patience only adds to the dilemmas I seem to constantly find myself in. An old friend gave me a very good piece of advice that has helped me immensely. It was that there is no use worrying about something you cannot do anything about. How valid that is, especially for older people. I am reminded of similar advice by the great Israeli Statesman Shimon Peres. “If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact. Not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.” I have decided that I have to cope with my predicaments. 

One way I plan to try and offset the effects of the quandaries I find myself in is to try spending more time enjoying the things that bring joy to my life. I look at my life through the eyes of a great many others and I can see that I am one of the luckiest men to ever have lived. I realize that the resolutions I plan to keep are fairly simple.

One is to be the best driver I can possibly be. I know my limitations and try not to go beyond them. It would not be a bad idea for everyone to make that their number one resolution. 

On the fun side I derive my greatest pleasure spending time with the grandkids and their grandmother. My active working years left too little time for the family. Right or wrong, that was the way it played out and there is no way to change it if I wanted to. I have learned since retirement the thing that has improved my philosophy on life is to keep busy. 

I like to think that sharing a lifetime of experience in the many fields and interests I have had is some benefit to others. It is one of the reasons I write this column, that and it will ultimately let my grandchildren know who I am. 

I had an old friend who lived well into his nineties who taught me the philosophy of making every minute count. He had much in his life to be bitter about but refused to let it get him down. Instead he spent every waking moment that his physical abilities allowed doing the things he had always derived pleasure in. 

As he described it to me it might be picking wild berries, hunting bullfrogs or plinking targets with a twenty-two rifle. He was one of the most memorable people I have ever known. A dentist by profession born and raised in Ilion, he spent his entire working life in Louisville, Ky. I met him through his annual deer hunting trips to the Adirondacks when I was a ranger. We corresponded from that point on up until his death a couple of years ago. He did as much as anything I have ever experienced to inspire me to appreciate life. 

Martha Carman was a local woman and friend who exuded good cheer and a rare appreciation of life well into her nineties. Martha’s joy in life was making friends and communicating with them up until the end from The Eastern Stars Home in Clinton, NY. I shared some of her joy by keeping her supplied with greeting cards and postage stamps. 

Both my dentist friend and Martha entertained me with their steady cheerful repertoire of what they were about with not one hint of any of the certain problems endemic with their situations. 

I guess what I am trying to say is I hope in some small way that by what I have written others might be inspired to look beyond the travails of old age and enjoy life to its fullest. That is my wish for the New Year.