Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus is Latin.  I know this because I took an entire semester of Latin back when I was a freshman in high school.  Latin was already a dead language then but the body was still slightly warm.  That was the semester that I discovered two things about myself: first, that I have no talent for spoken languages; and, second, I can decode patterns really well.  No wonder two of my kids treat English as a second language....but love math. Back to the subject at hand....

This blog is in its infancy and now seems the time to make big decisions.  Dum Vivimus, Vivamus roughly translates to "While we live, let us live!"  It's a celebration in this moment and a challenge to the winds of future changes.

A blog that focuses on senior citizens and those grudgingly or otherwise headed for that status can choose to play it safe, blather about all sorts of ways to avoid risk, eek out the last years in trepidation.

Or we can live.

I've never been a particularly cautious man.  I tried out for the high school football team at 6'2" and 126 pounds - and made the team.  Three years later, I met a pretty girl.  Two weeks later I told her I was going to marry her.  She's been stuck with me ever since.  I've had a dozen jobs doing everything from working in a lumber yard to driving a truck, selling insurance and managing a restaurant.  Now I create my own work in my own business... the ultimate high-wire act.  The kids call me a drama queen because I look at the schedule and will announce, seriously, "After Wednesday, I have no work for the rest of my life."  Then I bust my rear-end and get some work.  And, by the way, I DID build that.

So while this blog is going to look at ways to stay safe, we're also going to explore what we CAN do.  The older I get, the more I realize how fast time moves.  No revelation there, I know but it's one that everybody reaches in their own good time and no amount of telling someone will replace the feeling that settles into the bones when you know life is short.

Because, you know, it is.

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus!