My Thoughts on Aging -by Jim Norris
I’m eighty-four, so it’s natural that I’d think about what it means to age. I have two basic thoughts. First, aging has everything to do with living. There is a lot more to living than simply settling down and watching life pass by. Second, aging is about planning for eternity. We should make reservations with our maker and keep in touch with Him daily.
I have known friends and family who retired believing, “I am retired, so I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.” It wasn’t long before some of them couldn’t get around and couldn’t do anything if they wanted. Many of them are not here anymore. I hope they had their reservations with God. I understand it is very hot in the other place.
I think it is necessary to keep active. Planning ahead, I started a business, testing backflow devices (health devices on our water supply). I wanted something to do after I completed my thirty-three years with the fire department. I went to school, taking vacation time to get my certification. There weren’t enough backflow testers in Fort Collins, and the health department’s demands needed to be met.
I passed my certification test. I have to recertify every three years. I do some tests for some nonprofit originations. I have to be registered with the state and carry a large insurance policy, so I test many other companies as well in order to cover expenses and generate some extra spending money. There are times I have more work than I really want—I found out recently that I don’t charge as much as other testers. No wonder I’m busy!
I don’t mind, though. Working keeps me doing something constructive. I talk to a lot of people. I’m not sitting around watching television. (Nothing wrong with television, but I think too much TV and computer game playing dulls the mind.)
I believe we should never stop learning or trying new things. I was always interested in writing, so I wrote a book. Finished, I realized that I didn’t know anything about writing. I thought about some of my teachers in school. Why didn’t I listen to them more or remember what they were teaching? I took some classes and joined a writer’s group. I have learned a lot from the Pen Pointers critique group. I really am thankful I found them and thankful for all the help I have received. Since joining, I’ve had two short stories published. And, I’ve finished three books that I hope to get published in the future.
People don’t all like writing, and they don’t all like working. But there are civic organizations, church groups and others we can belong to and volunteer. We should keep active. I’m Chaplin for my Masonic Lodge. I’m on the fire museum board. (When we get a place to open to the public, I will volunteer there.) I don’t plan on sitting around while life passes me by.
I still have a lot to learn about aging gracefully. But I am learning more every day, I’m sure as I go along, I’ll learn more. After all, I am only eighty-four.
Early in his career Jim worked for the Climax Mine outside of Leadville, then on the Roberts Tunnel project followed by a stint as a bus driver for the city of Denver where he joined the Westminster volunteer fire department. He ultimately took a job with the Fort Collins Fire department from which he retired 33 years later.
