I listened to an hour of live Ben Harper music on YouTube, and then I wrote this post.

I'm not as scared of dying as I am of growing old.

-Ben Harper

The other day I was thinking about growing old. And how it is just plain old scary. (pun). In my line of work, I talk to a lot of people who are 80 and older. I can't tell you how many times a patient has looked me straight in the face and said in utter seriousness, "Don't get old." My response lately has been, "Well, you know the only alternative to getting old is dying young." 

And they almost always say something to the effect of 

"it's worth living to grow old." 

I've always said that I wouldn't want to live to be in my 90s, but I've learned something from my patients: age isn't what matters. How you feel matters. The other day a 90 some-odd year old told me I had to get him better because "I have to live to be 100." If I have to get old, I want to feel as good as he does.