perdurable - adjective - enduring continuously; imperishable (Google)
Every now and again, you might get lucky enough to witness true timelessness in a person: a human demigod who defies age, i.e. chronological definition. Last night at MetLife Stadium, a few breaths away from NYC, I felt blessed to be one of 50,000 people (Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen included), ranging in age from five to eighty-five, who flocked en masse to celebrate the perdurable Paul McCartney's eightieth birthday, which will be tomorrow. Yes, he'll be 8-0, not an octopus in any garden, but an octogenarian. I know. It is hard to believe that any Beatle could achieve that fate since they were the avatars of youth and a degree of innocence in the early 1960s. Clearly and fortunately, Paul has Dick Clark's Disease, the inability to age because he just flatly refuses to do so, which may just be part of the secret to staying young.
As some of you already know, I spend time as a professional singer, entertaining audiences in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Surely Sir Paul owns the right number to gain entrance into one of these places, but I don't see that happening-ever. And it doesn't have a lot to do with the fact that he is the wealthiest rock star on the planet with over a billion to his name albeit I am sure it doesn't hurt to have that kind of money. What invaluable, priceless traits Paul possesses that many of his contemporaries don't is an altruistic purpose and the desire to achieve it. Ostensibly his passion is music; he has amassed a treasure chest of original songs spanning decades of musical artistry. He has been blessed with a talent that he feels compelled to share even though he modestly declares that what he does is "just a hobby" now that he has reached the highest echelons of mortality for a man. (The average life span of one these days is just 78.) And he works very hard to share his avocation despite his voice not being what it used to be. He doesn't care. Three hours of nonstop singing and playing and cavorting sans a drop of water to moisturize his pipes (not good, Paul) later, he barely showed any signs of fatigue probably because he spends much time preparing physically. You never hear about his illnesses perhaps because he doesn't have any. He doesn't have time for them.
Celebrity Paul does lead a charmed life, I'm sure, but none of us needs to be Paul to reap similar benefits. If you are looking to be perdurable, physically and psychologically, don't fly south with the birds in pursuit of the Fountain of Youth in Florida. Find a passion and pursue it to the ends of the earth so that you don't have time to think about the number attached to you. It is definitely working for me because this past week, two people younger than forty thought I was forty, and I am in my sixties.
It's time to free up that nearly empty bag of Doritos, get up off the couch, turn off the TV, put down the phone, and get going. Doctors have too much money as it is. They don't need any more of yours. Think Paul. Think young. Be young, perdurable.
#word-to-words, #spilled thoughts, #vocabulary, #good advice, #personal essay, #vocabulary
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