Month’s end is a busy time. On the last day of the month, all the articles for the coming month are due for my column In the Same Boat, published weekly at Paddling.net. So when I answered a knock on the door and found a local politician wanting my support, I was a little harried. I listened politely when she described what I’d find on the platform printed on the sheet she was handing me, and I promised to read it carefully before polling day. Then she looked hard at me, squinted, and asked, “Are you the lady we see riding a bike all over the place?” I was taken aback at first, then nodded and said I ride a bike on county roads. She shook her head in amazement, her white hair reflecting the sun, and said, “We all think that’s remarkable.” I didn’t know what to say at first. What I did wasn’t remarkable at all. But I shrugged and said, “I enjoy it. It’s a way of life.” As it happens, it was my age that surprised her, that and the fact I considered a one-hour ride to be on the short side.

My visitor took her leave, but I continued to think about our exchange for some time afterwards. We weren’t very far apart in age, but the political candidate was clearly not a physically active woman. She struggled to climb in through the door of her large car. Her clothes strained at their seams. And it seemed likely that she was incapable of understanding how anyone beyond the age of 20 could ride a bicycle up the local hills and live to tell the tale.

I returned to my work, met my deadline, and then thought some more about how so many folks believe that at their 50th birthday (give or take 10 years) they should give up physical endeavors in favor of the La-Z-Boy°. Nothing could be further from the truth! My retired aunt, who still wrangles and rides horses, likes to say she wakes every morning feeling as if she’s been hit by a truck, and that sometimes it’s parked on her. I know just how she feels. But that doesn’t stop either of us from working our bodies. There’s too much fun to be had keeping active. And it’s healthier, too. Ask my doctor.

Aging isn’t for sissies, and nobody ever said that growing old was easy. But consider the alternative. This helps put things in perspective. In any case, we all have one foot in the grave from the day we’re born. That doesn’t mean we have to jump in and wait to be covered over, though, does it? No way! I know I’m not ready to give up bicycling, paddling, and hiking. You don’t have to give up an active life, either. And even if you’ve never been very active? Don’t lose heart! I’s not too late to start. Life may not begin at 50, but it can sure get a lot more interesting.

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