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What’s Your Secret?

Now that he’s reach 90 years of age, everybody wants to know what his secret is.
The secret is there is no secret.
At least, not in his case. In his case it’s all transparent.
It’s partly the luck of the draw.
And two other things: addiction and a flawed heart.
If it wasn’t for addiction and a weak heart,
he wouldn’t be here today.
Addiction to pipe smoking and coffee made him see that he
had an addictive personality
and the only way to stop smoking and drinking coffee
was to find something else, another, healthy, addiction
to be a slave to.
He found it. Running it was. the new addiction.
“Replacement therapy” he calls it,
substituting a good addiction for a bad one.
No doubt about it: running saved his life.
The same goes for his weak heart.
He already had an arrhythmic heart beat and a prolapsed valve.
Now his heartbeat was so low he was fainting dead away.
Three times in one week he was sped by ambulance
to the hospital.
The third time he stayed.
Five days later, he was released, a pacemaker in his chest.
Now there are times, he knows, that if it wasn’t
for his pacemaker, keeping his pulse
at no less than 60 beats per minute,
he would be dead.
So, as he said:
Addiction and a flawed heart helped him reach his 90th year.
Maybe something else will go wrong
and he’ll reach his 100th.

 

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