Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
What is very cool in the open water swimming community – from ocean swimming to ice swimming, from wild swimming to marathon swimming – is the natural, person-to-person passing of information and advice from the older generations to the younger.
Because everything is changing so rapidly (e.g., technology, geopolitics, economic opportunities, interactions on social media), it seems that all generations – from young to old – are holding on for dear life in this increasingly rapid unveiling of life. However, mankind still needs to learn from the past so as to not repeat its failings, mistakes and missed opportunities.
Harry Huffaker mused,
The good news is they definitely have more fun, look better than most and more often can be self supporting. The bad news is they all too often come wit an attitude.
And if they hit the ice watch out! At times I feel the need to reinvent myself somewhere else. The dilemma then becomes as age 80I is the next stop is the where.
Michigan was a wonderful place to grow up in the 50’s, limitless opportunities and endless/affordable fun after statehood, and Sun Valley at age 50 when people who by and large came from somewhere else were active/healthy had room for new friends. Now so many have passed, moved away, who due to health concerns can no longer do what they once did, or if they can have been there/done that or are become a caregiver to someone who does. Interesting changes along life’s way!
Not sure to what led up to this message. Perhaps a book about serendipitous changes without reason, road less traveled, waking up at 80 wondering how someone finds themselves living in Idaho which was not the result of family, job search etc.. Few minor bumps in Life which everyone experiences. But by and large happy, healthy and blessed with parents who provided a free reign and encouraged taking risks while living outside the box with a sense of adventure and never pushed me to do anything. My heroes, mentors, and role models most often were elders and not peers.
Sitting here on Christmas Eve thinking about my Father woo passed 35 years ago after retiring to Mexico,
enjoying looking at the water realizing that Hawaii is no longer affordable and/or as attractive as it was 52 years after arriving and wondering “what’s next”? A problem which I won’t need to ponder much longer!
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