There's A Limit

Just over an hour ago, when I was waiting for my dinner to heat up, I began wondering about that woman, just a few months younger than myself, who had gotten all this publicity last week when she started swimming from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.  Last I had heard she had just started.  Then my week got too busy and I never heard if she succeeded or not.

So, I just checked with ol' google.  I typed in:

"62 year old woman swims cuba florida"

Then I scrolled down the list of links and finally read:

"Diana Nyad Unable To Finish Cuba to Florida Swim: 'It's Over'"
Diana Nyad, the 61-year old woman who attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage, was forced to abandon the quest halfway between her starting and end points...

From the article it seems like she was at peace with her failure.  Just getting that far is quite an accomplishment.  Dying would defeat the purpose of it, the goal. 

Nyad and I are of the same generation.  As a generation, we've seen our parents as being much more youthful than our grandparents ever were.  We were warned "not to trust anyone over thirty," so it seems important to try to function as if we're 29 forever.  That's a decade younger than Jack Benny's eternal age. 

Sometimes I think my kids are older than I am.

We have to be thankful for every day we're alive and functioning.  But we don't have to try to compete or keep up with the person we once were.  Each day is a new day, and we must rework the challenges to fit.