One Decade at a Time

Then

Now

I want to take this opportunity to wish Eddie Van Halen a very Happy Birthday!

This rocker from back when I was in high school/college doesn't look a day over 70 .. although he is only 55 years old (I say only because I am just a few years shy of that milestone, as well).

I have often heard that men age far more gracefully than women.

As men get older, they often look more handsome and distinguished.

Don't believe me?

Look at Harrison Ford .. or Sean Connery (Cheryl could .. for hours). They are two examples of just how kind Father Time can be to the male species.

There are exceptions, however.

In order to age gracefully, you must have at least had .. at one time .. something to work with.

If you looked like you "fell out of an ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down" when you were younger, chances are age will only exacerbate the problem.

Of course other factors can come in to play and accelerate the aging process.

This is the case with Eddie Van Halen.

All those years of "hard living" on the road has finally caught up with this "pretty face" and now .. well, let's just leave it at that.

Ironically (with the help of Jenny Craig), Valerie Bertinelli (his former wife) has "reinvented" herself in recent years and looks amazing (almost as amazing as my wife).

Granted, she is only forty nine (she'll be fifty years old in April), but I don't think the next five years are going to be as hard on her as they were on Eddie.

I'm certainly no George Clooney (George Gobel, maybe .. but not even close to George Clooney), but I can't believe I've changed that much over these past 30 years or so.

I attribute this to diet, exercise, and good clean living (I'm a non drinker, non smoker).

Of course, it doesn't hurt having a portrait of myself at home that ages so that I don't.

"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing." - Psalm 92:14