You get the word...now what?

[Neal]

Sad post, sorry! This is not about me, and no one needs to reveal anything personal, it's a wake up call yet again. Story goes....

My real estate agent that sold me my house, maybe 5-10 years older than me...I remember seeing on Facebook about two years ago he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and had 5-7 years to live. He was in top shape, he lead navy seal physical fitness training courses in this area. He described his shock that he was at the top of his game in fitness and then gets this news. Today I learned from my mother he passed.

Again, this is not about me, I didn't know him other than being my real-estate agent for me and then my parents in buying their condo. No sorry's needed, what this is instead about is regrounding ourselves in these short lives we have to live. Are you living your best life? What would you do if you got news along that line, it's time to start living your dreams if you haven't already. No irony in that we are all living in dangerous times as I write this with threats of covid-19 all around us with us in quarantine hoping to stay safe.

I've had talks along these lines with some close friends and again today. I have questions on what I would do, I'm not married and no kids. Then again not everyone gets a notification that it's time to do what you've always wanted to do. With all this today I also read online of two sudden deaths, one guy a year younger than me, the other is Dak Prescott's older brother.

We hear this theme at times in the RV Lifestyle of people waiting to RV at retirement and then health issues or tragedy strikes and it never happens. We're here, for the most part we've entered this dream and lifestyle.

So again I'm hit with the thoughts of what would I do. Probably nothing any of us can put to words and don't have the answers for. But this is a reminder again to step back, think about your life, remove the negative influences and keep your positive influences close and make the best of each day.

 

[MapNerd]

 

[AbdRahim]

Also a reminder to be ready spiritually.

Good topic. I was waiting until age 70-72 to get my dream MH. I lost my three best friends in the last five years. The last one last fall. At that point, I took the advice of my financial advisor and others who said don't wait. It was then that I made the final decision and ordered a Newmar. Hopefully everything will settle down so I can go get it.

I am very analytical and was waiting until the decision was most financially sound, and until it would likely last most of my remaining camping days (in theory). However, many of my acquaintances never made it to 70. There is a tender balance between the perfectly practical time and the right time. I hope I did the right thing. Only time will tell.

 

[MapNerd]

I am still a young man at 34 with two young kids (9 and 7). Often, it’s easy for people to think to themselves, I am young and I can do all of that later when I retire. The moment that changed it all for me was when I came into work and found out a colleague at work, while I didn’t personally know very well but I’d met a few times in meetings and a chatted with, had died over the weekend from a heart attack while running. He was 43 and appeared a very fit man. Left behind young kids and a wife.

That was when what my wife had been telling me for a while really hit me. There are no guarantees on this earth. I am fortunate to have the financial resources to be able to do it now so I had to ask myself, what am I waiting for? Not just buying a motor home but doing so many other things as well.

The kids will remember it forever and if tomorrow is my last day here, well I’ll just wish I’d done it sooner so that I could have had more time with them.

i keep a few adages in my phone and read them from time to time and when I come across another that gives me pause, I add it to the list:

• You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.
• The greatest mistake you can make in life is constantly being afraid to make one
• Everyone you meet knows something you don’t.
• Don't be a jerk to your pets. They’re a few years of your life, but you are all of theirs
• Next year, you’ll wish you had started today.
• You're going to die one day. We all are. Do everything you want to do. Don't wind up on your death bed one day thinking of all the things you didn't do because some asshole might have an asshole opinion about it. They're just jealous anyways.
• Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but, when we look back everything is different.
• Resist the inclination to judge others by their actions but yourself by your intentions.
• You will be dead someday. No matter what you believe, there is no hard proof there is anything more. You will never have a chance like this again. What are you going to do?
• Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
• Being bad at something is the first step to being kinda good at something.
• The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think
• Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.
• You can be the juiciest, ripest peach in the world and there’s still going to be people who hate peaches.
• Most of the time multitasking is an illusion. You think you are multitasking, but in reality you are wasting time switching from one task to another.
• Be weird.
• If you never heal from what hurt you, you’ll bleed on people who didn’t cut you
• The world is changed by your example, not your opinion
• Don’t take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from
• Do not regret growing older. It’s a privilege denied to many.
• All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.

 

[MapNerd]

One more that always makes me chuckle, just to lighten the mood on this thread..

• Opinions are like buttholes, everybody’s got one and they all stink

 

[Kevin D Pem]

My mind has wandered off. Yes quite frequently something catches my eye while I go about this forum. Today is the first day I saw this thread and I must bring up from the past @MapNerd 's post as a refreshing thought for us all.

 

[MapNerd]

I’ve added a few more to my list since that post. I think I might have even picked up one of them from an RVF post somewhere.

• Everyone is fighting their own battle that you know nothing about
• If you look at people in your circle and don’t get inspired to grow beyond yourself, you don’t have a circle; you have a cage.
• You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If you want to make a difference in this world, if you’re going to realize your potential, you must be around people who push you to become the very best version of yourself

 

[MapNerd]

• Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it
• Enjoy life. Graveyards are full of “irreplaceable people”. The truth is, they’ll post your job before you’ve reached the morgue.
• Don’t grow a wishbone where a backbone should be
• Being the last person to comment on something is actually a lot harder than being the first
• You aren’t paid according to how hard you work. You are paid according to how hard your employer thinks you are to replace
• A lemon is not naturally occurring. It is a hybrid developed by cross breeding a bitter orange with a citron. Life never gave us lemons. We invented them ourselves.
• Keep going. You didn’t come this far only to come this far.
• Making predictions is hard. Not only is the future hard to see, but the present is hard to grasp.
• Don’t take life so seriously. You’ll never get out alive.
• Don’t play chess with pigeons. They just knock over all of the pieces, crap on the board and strut around like they won the game.

 

[Scooterfan]

I've faced that day personally...and Jesus kept me from it. I cannot NOT express to my friends on this board that this life is short ("...like a mist..." a wise man said)...but it's not the end. We will continue living. If we accept the free gift Jesus offers us it will be with Him forever. So I must say to you...pursue Jesus. So now when I hear of someone close dying I consider if he/she loved Jesus. Today, my good friend's son was shot and killed in Mexico. "This world is not our home..."

That's why, we need to travel in our RV's and enjoy the vistas at every opportunity...because "...the skies proclaim the work of His hands..."

 

[Old Bubblehead]

Just hit the 63 yo mark. Never thought I would make it that far. Certainly made enough poor choices in my life that it was not always a guarantee I would make it. Not in any rush to leave, but cognizant that more life is behind me than in front. As your post highlights, there is always a steady stream of reminders of the fragility and brevity or the human form. I just try to be thankful for the time and opportunities provided. I try to live my best life possible, realizing there are limits to everything and hope my legacy will be positive things left behind.

 

[MapNerd]

• Politeness is not the same as kindness. Being polite is saying what makes people feel good today. Being kind is doing what helps people get better tomorrow. In polite cultures, people withhold disagreement and criticism. In kind cultures, people speak their minds respectfully.
• We’re too eager to bet on people who overestimate themselves, and too hesitant to bet on people who underestimate themselves. It’s easier to build up confidence than it is to tear down arrogance. The people with the most potential are the ones that know they have a lot to learn.
• You don’t have you agree with everything I think. I don’t even agree with everything I think.
• When someone seeks your advice, they rarely want to be told which option to choose. They’re usually seeking guidance on how to approach the decision. The best advice doesn’t specify what to do. It highlights the blind spots in our thinking and helps us clarify our priorities.
• “I’m just being honest” is a poor excuse for being rude. Candor is being forthcoming in what you say. Respect is being considerate in how you say it. Being direct with the content of your feedback doesn’t prevent you from being thoughtful about the best way to deliver it.
• A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in
• Happiness is amazing. It’s so amazing that it doesn’t matter if it’s yours or not.
• Good people do things for other people. That’s it. The end.

 

[Jerryfr]

As a 70 year old, I'll chime in on this. Looking back I feel very blessed, my life has been good. Ups and downs like everyone else, but I feel very fortunate. I've been truly blessed

My thoughts are these. As we get into our later years we tend to regret more the things we didn't do, rather than the things we did do. Now not meant to be a blanket absolution of our past deeds and yes we all have things we look back on with hindsight, but in general and speaking with those of my age, the consensus is one of:
"oh if I had only done this" or "I wish I would have found time to do this". It's like we're riding in a train looking out the windows as the train zooms along the tracks, aways going to get off at the next station, but the train keeps on zooming down the tracks and...