Day 12: Old friends

I passed the evening in the company of three of my favorite people on the planet, one of whom I'm lucky enough to be married to. The other two, a married couple I've known since I moved to upstate New York more than 30 years ago, have seen me at my best and my worst -- and in spite of that, we're still good friends.

The occasion was our annual dinner out to celebrate three of our four birthdays, which fall within a couple of weeks of each other. Over the years we've compared notes as we passed from our 20s to our 30s, our 40s and beyond. Tonight one of my friends said his wish for the next year was to stay out of the hospital. Given that he's had some serious health problems in recent years, it seemed an appropriate birthday wish.

I'm lucky. I'm in reasonably good health. Out of shape, but in reasonably good health. I credit good genes more than anything. My mother is 97, and her only serious health problem is arthritis. Her mother lived to be almost 94. She lived a full and active life right up to her last year, and she did it on a diet that seemed to consist largely of coffee and chocolates.

But I did inherit my dad's high cholesterol. My numbers aren't exactly off the charts, but they're not great. So one of my goals for this next year is to get those numbers down considerably. Giving up ice cream would probably be a good way to start, but I suspect it will take much more than that.

I hate having to think about this stuff.