a blog by John P. Schuster
I have a Florida friend who had two knees replaced at age 63 so he could keep playing high level tennis. He is designing his elderhood, his later life years. I have a 60-something friend who moved from Long Island after several decades. She uprooted herself and went to Philly to live near her family. She is yet to settle in, but she is giving it time. She is designing her elderhood. I have an[…]
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I heard a fairly normal comment about aging while on the tennis court last week. I had met a few new guys exactly my age – 68 and 69. One of them said “this being in my late 60s has not been that hard to admit but 69!!! Sheesh, that is almost 70, and whoa – that is old!” and he puckered his face with a reluctant not-so-accepting smile at the inevitable doom that awaited[…]
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My wife and I do not hang out in the LA celebrity scene. We did this week (October 26), even though an LA gala is not the easiest place to be in life’s later years (more on that later.) I am proud to serve on the board for Whole Child International, a fantastically promising resource for kids at risk around the world, headed by Countess Karen Spencer, social entrepreneur and visionary. She also happens to[…]
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About 163 days after our 69th birthdays we all hit 25,000 days of life. On our 69th b-day, the one I had last week, we are living our 24,837th day or so, depending on leap year patterns. For me, March 30th 2018 is my 25,000th day for sucking air on the planet and being John Paul Cunningham Schuster. So how do I feel about approaching my 25,000th day of life? Not much yet, but if[…]
Read moreWe are put on earth a space to learn to bear the beams of love ~William Blake With this post, I am announcing my year-long project to record my thoughts on my 70th year, beginning on my 69th birthday. I finished 69 years yesterday, and I start my 70th October 18th, 2017. This is also the last year of my 7th decade. Why do I want to do this recording of my thoughts on aging?[…]
Read moreIn a class on self-expression for “The Afternoon of Life” held at the Jung Center in Houston, I was asked to write quickly before I did any censoring, on what I know. Here is what came out of me. What do you know? Remember, write fast. What I know, and want to pass on John P. Schuster I know love rules Grace matters Pain subsides Anxiety teaches Anger cleanses Hugs heal Laughter lightens Smiles welcome[…]
Read moreOn TV last night in Houston, St. Patrick’s Day — yes, I still watch local news and weather sometimes — was a most touching story of a school janitor lady giving some of the little money she had to repair a vandalized school bus, one that transports the kids she loves at the school she has worked at for 20 years. It got me to thinking. We all know the above famous Martin Luther King[…]
Read moreWe are gearing up it appears, if legislative forecasting for 2017 can be believed, for a big spend on the long-neglected infrastructure of highways and sewers and bridges. It took us decades to get to this mandate and let’s hope we intelligently add to our public assets. Democracy itself has a less visible infrastructure, but one just as badly in need of repair. Like physical systems, we use the democratic infrastructure all the time: they[…]
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