Less paragraph and more verse:

We do this so we can keep doing this. A Zen koan. Garden variety human absurdity.

I don’t want to live forever, but while I’m still alive, I want to live like I’m gonna live forever.

Dylan Thomas was a drunk, but he wasn’t an idiot. He raged a little too hard against the dying of the light, but the point stands, by which I mean don’t sit still.

Stillness will kill you.

You and me. We’re not young still, but we’re not yet old. Age confers urgency. Urgency is a fuel that will keep you young. Rage against the machine if you have to. Run with the stupid bulls. Take a Zumba class and pretend no one is watching.

One of my heroes is a woman ten years older than I am. We did burpees together this morning. I was out of breath.

She climbed all 40 of New Hampshire’s 4,000 foot peaks last year. I didn’t. But obviously that’s something I need to get on top of, so to speak.

I say my body hurts. She says there’s so much to do. So much to see. If we don’t do the things we do, how are we ever going to do and see those things?

It’s a fair question.

I know. I know. There is a fine balance between building yourself up and tearing yourself down. Momentum and entropy dance with each other like a snake and a mongoose.

I say, better to be the snake, or the mongoose for that matter, than one of the sad farts standing by watching.