You Can't Help Getting Older

You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.

George Burns

If 50 is the new 30, I’m still in my twenties, though my body sometimes lets me know reality doesn’t joke around with quips and phrases. And it’s an odd sensation that, when I look in the mirror, the image my mind projects onto that mirror reflected back at me is still a young’un with plenty of life left, even if I hobbled to the mirror with sore knees and an achy back from hard falls on the skateboard the day before. “You haven’t won yet, old man Time.”

About the author

George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife, Gracie Allen, appeared on radio, television, and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen.

Burns also did regular nightclub stand-up acts in his later years, usually portraying himself as a lecherous old man. He always smoked a cigar onstage and reputedly timed his monologues by the amount the cigar had burned down. For this reason, he preferred cheap El Producto cigars as the loosely wrapped tobacco burned longer. Burns once quipped “In my youth, they called me a rebel. When I was middle-aged, they called me eccentric. Now that I’m old, I’m doing the same thing I’ve always done and they’re calling me senile.”