{"id":7606,"date":"2013-08-28T18:27:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T01:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7606"},"modified":"2013-09-09T19:43:18","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T02:43:18","slug":"on-turning-70-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/08\/28\/on-turning-70-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"On Turning 70, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HM-in-front-of-painted-wall-8'13\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Me, last week, in front of my studio painting wall, taken by daughter, artist and photographer Allison. It was a shot between poses but perhaps the most revealing.<\/h6>\n

When I turned 60 instead of a party I took a long walk. I’d read somewhere that 60 was \u201cthe beginning of old age.\u201d Not exactly an inspiring thought. So how should I feel about turning 70?<\/p>\n

My dad at age 70 had just retired and was building a house in the mountains. It was something he’d always wanted to do, took him five years, and later he said it was the greatest experience of his life.<\/p>\n

Me, I’m not retiring (still finding interest in painting) and am completely satisfied with the house we’re in, being its own work of art. Still, it seems there should be some meaningful \u201cgift to self\u201d to commemorate beginning of old-age-plus-ten<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But what, at this point, do I really need? A new pair of jeans?<\/p>\n

For awhile I thought it should be a motorcycle. That’s an intrigue from my youth that never went completely away. A classic Triumph Bonneville would be nice, or a Norton Commando . . . beautiful machines, very fast, very loud, and fun!<\/p>\n

But when would I ride it? When I’m out I’m almost always carrying art, or art supplies.<\/p>\n

Besides, I know what people would think: \u201cThere’s a guy denying reality!”<\/p>\n

But who cares? I’m 70 and I can do whatever I want!<\/p>\n

Actually I’m not so sure about that, which is why I’ve come up with something else, something not so life threatening, but to me a certain meaning about life.<\/p>\n

It’s an earring!<\/p>\n

What? An earring? And this coming from a fellow who’s 70 years old, and one who’s never had much use for tattoos or any of that sort.<\/p>\n

But it’s for a different reason. Really. It’s like in Bob Dylan’s famous song, You’ve Got to Serve Someone<\/em>: \u201cIt could be the devil; it could be the Lord; but you’ve got to serve someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though I’m 70, I am serving someone. I really can’t do whatever I want. Or even want to.<\/p>\n

And the earring will be a personal reminder.<\/p>\n

More about this next blog.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meantime, if you’d like the full story of where this is going, click here for the message I gave last Sunday.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anymore I’m only celebrating personal birthdays that end in zeros or fives. Even then they come a little oftener than I might like. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7606"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7701,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606\/revisions\/7701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}