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September 6, 2006

Anniversary

Tomorrow is the seventieth anniversary of my grandparents' wedding. That's right, seventy. 70. I've blogged about my grandparents before... they're an amazing couple. My grandfather was a professional photographer whose work was shown in the Chicago Art Institute and many other prestigious venues. He was the main photographer for R.J. Reynolds, back when everyone smoked. He did the society photography for all the prominent families in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They raised four children, two from my grandfather's previous marriage, my uncle and my father. Their children grew up to be very successful: my Aunt Nancy ran off at 16 to marry a gorgeous boy she met at the beach... he's still gorgeous, some 30 years later, and he's a retired school principal who sails yachts for fun and profit. They're happily married with grown children and some very cute Persian cats. My uncle Tom is an incredibly good businessman who does a little bit of everything and raised his own family of four. My uncle Gerald is a dean at Duke, and still happily married to his wife Ginger. Their daughter Holly was the pretty one when we were growning up (I was the smart ugly duckling) They are now expecting their second grandchild. My father, the baby, was eight years younger than Gerald and always perceived himself as living in Gerald's shadow. But now, at 61, with a successful career as a college professor and author behind him, he is making another success of the parrish ministry, bringing life experience to his congregatation that he never would have had as the twenty-something he was when he first served churches in rural North Carolina. He and his beautiful second wife, my step-mother Marianne (who is just as stunning at 65 as she was when he first took me to meet her over twenty years ago) are currently playing with their two grandchildren, Madeline and Jack. They have one normal, successful kid: my step-brother John who made the perfect marriage, has two beautiful children, a great job and a new house. Then they have me.

Life-extension nutcase, radical leftist, fashionista, grape tomato addict, skinny boy fetishist, Christian/Celtic/mystic/freak, low-calorie cook, wine enthusiast, lover of cats and science geeks dressed as anarchists. My father has often said that I have the most exciting life of anyone he knows. I compare this to the ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

My grandparents are among my life-extension models. From sixty to ninety, they enjoyed a quality of life that 20 year olds would envy. Dancing, travelling, enjoying the company of their loving friends and family, dressing up in their matching Neiman Marcus suits for family holidays. My grandmother is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. She is stylish in a way that never goes out of style. She's tough and ran my grandfathers' business while raising a family. She's the social butterfly, the most obvious explanation for my extreme extroversion, and she knows everyone's name and what they're up to.

My grandfather was just diagnosed with Alzheimers. For about a year, he's been going downhill. Last Thanksgiving, instead of the fabulous feast at the Twin City Club that we've had for about twenty years, we had dinner at my dad's house, stopping at my grandparents the next day for a visit, because my grandaddy wasn't up to going out. He got sick suddenly, and without explanation. He just wasn't himself anymore. My grandmother has fought bravely to keep him together, but he's afraid to be away from her and being housebound has taken its toll on even her strength. I was so grateful that they got to meet MR last Thanksgiving, and to see me so happily in love.

My grandparents lived a healthy lifestyle. I've written before about how they'd go out and split a piece of fish, eat their salads and veggies, and leave most of the rice. My grandfather weighed himself every day, and if he gained a pound, he ate less the next day. For years, he ate a fruit salad with some yogurt for breakfast everyday.

They enjoyed the last thirty years, a time when most people assume they will be in decline, immensely. They were able to enjoy the fruits of their hard work, their experience, their wisdom, the money they had made and the family they had raised. They had a good life.

Why shouldn't they have more?

A few months ago, MR wrote a book chapter about possible solutions to the problem of the failure of the lysosomes, the cellular "garbage disposal system." This failure is a major cause of Alzheimers disease and atherosclerosis. It's one of the SENS initiatives.

It's too late for my grandfather.

Some things remind you of the urgency of the SENS project, and the Mprize. Life doesn't get boring just because you get old: life is wonderful (unless you are starving, imprisoned, depressed, or a boring person) until you get sick! Why do that? Never, not if we can prevent it.

I dedicate myself to fighting injustice in our economic system today and fighting idiocy in our aging processes tomorrow. Until someone has a better idea, I plan to continue fighting. We create the world we live in, and I want to help create a world where people can live for many years in the kind of health and happiness that my grandparents enjoyed until after the age of ninetly.

We all decide, as a society, what our priorities will be. The more money we raise, the more public attention we bring, the more legislators we write, the sooner we will cure and even reverse aging.

It's probably too late for my grandfather. But it's not too late for us.

Posted by april at September 6, 2006 7:10 PM

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Posted by: istanbulwitchy at September 6, 2006 5:43 PM

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