Opinion: I just hope to outlive Keith Richards

It has been a pretty rough stretch for relatively young celebrities these past couple of months. David Bowie, Garry Shandling, Prince, Alan Rickman, Lemmy from Motorhead, Natalie Cole, and Patty Duke are just some of the talented under 70-year-olds who have departed this life.

Outside of Keith Richards lighting up a cigarette and sneering, “Ha! I’ve outlived them all!” the main reaction I have is, “better them than me!”

They say to live each day like it is your last, but then I come home after work, take one of the kids to lacrosse practice, pick up the other one from lacrosse practice and then eat dinner about 9 p.m. and think it is easier said than done. I can’t just hop on a bull named Fu Manchu for 8 seconds, climb Everest or take hot air balloon over the Rockies and talk to a guru at the top of Utopia. I don’t have the time nor funds.

I’d say I’m living life like I’m breathing and alive.

In a few short years, my kids will be out on their own, the dog will lay around most of the day and the hubbub of shuttling people from place to place will be done. And even then, I’ll probably be too unfit to ride a bull and still not have the desire to climb mountains whose beauty I can view from a safe distance below.

To me, at least, life isn’t cramming in a bunch of things to do to prove I’m still kicking. It is enjoying the things I have. Yes, icons I’ve followed are dropping like flies, but I’m here. I can kiss my daughter on the cheek and wish her luck as the Nation Ford Falcons try to win a state lacrosse championship. I can pat my son on the head and tell him “good job” on his grades and ability to keep a ball out of a net. I can kiss my wife and say it has been a great 20 years of marriage.

Life takes you through stages. The 20s, everyone is getting married (well, maybe not so much among today’s 20-somethings). The 30s is people having kids. The 40s are divorces, second weddings, and more kids. From that point on, a lot of focus is on death and funerals. Close relatives start taking dirt naps and friends leave their earthly homes. I’m entering that stage of facing grim realities. But I’m also about to enter that stage where we start over. Our children get married and have kids.

Celebrities are going to keep passing on. Athletes I grew up admiring will dunk in the clouds. I can either look at life as it is ending, or keep living because, well, I’m still alive. I don’t have to do back flips jumping out of a plane to prove it, I just have to keep breathing, and hope I outlive Keith Richards.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Opinion: I just hope to outlive Keith Richards."