Tea today with an 86 year old son whose father at age 90 told his son. “I’m just me. I’m not any age.”

It’s true. I once gave a talk and lady came up to me and said “I’m 91 but actually inside I’m 17”. I said “I know you are.” For the lucky of us things don’t change inside us, even though we might have new outside look as the years progress.

“Three very important rules to live by no matter your years” my friend told me today. #1 Have someone to love. It might even be a pet.” #2 Have or find something you can do. #3 Aways have something to look forward to”

Also take everything in tiny steps. Don’t be overwhelmed by it all. It’s really all about learning how to look forward to looking forward.

So many bits of wisdom I learned today. In our conversation today the years between us fell away. It was like my friend and I played on the schoolyard over tea. In his eyes and his voice he raced me to the slide and the swings. So much to look forward to.

His wisdom taught me the lesson today it doesn’t matter how you keep at it, just keep at it. Finally it proves the point you must always remember… What’s Best About You Never Ages.

Deeper into the discussion of Design Your Age.
Join legendary Austin journalist, broadcaster, and communication strategist Neal Spelce. Neal honored me with an interview of Design Your Age. If you get a chance please see Neal Spelce featured in the documentary titled Tower Documentary on NETFLIX. It was in 1966 Neal put his life on the line to report the University of Texas Tower shooting. Neal’s career has moved from broadcaster to coaching Presidential candidates and CEO of corporations. His questions were not all soft balls. I appreciated this opportunity with Neal.

Legendary Austin journalist, broadcaster, and communication strategist Neal Spelce honored me with an interview of Design Your Age. If you get a chance see Neal Spelce featured on Netflix in the documentary titled Tower Documentary. It was in 1966 Neal put his life on the line to report the University of Texas Tower shooting. Neal’s career has moved from broadcaster to coaching Presidential candidates and CEO of corporations. His questions were not all soft balls. I appreciated this opportunity with Neal.

Love this man. He’s right there, in my own backyard of family, a Master of Age. Still brimming with improv jokes fueled by a bright sense of humor. Saw intense battle action in the South Pacific during World War 2 with his brother, my father Morris. This man is my Uncle Babe. Max M. Kamin, 94 years young.

He chided me on my upcoming wedding. “ Tuck, don’t spend a lot. Just make sure it all comes from your heart.”

When talking about faith Uncle Babe said, “Listen, God is in the leaves, trees and air. He’s not just in a synagogue or church. That’s what you need to know.”

What you can’t see as he stands here with his daughter Dana, my sweet cousin is Uncle Babe possesses a kid’s curiosity. A constant hunger for knowledge.“I was always a book reader. Loved books since I was a little kid”.

Also what you don’t know is that Uncle Babe lost his wife suddenly 2 weeks prior to this photograph. She went into the hospital and after 12 days was gone. Dawn Kamin at age 76 was a beautiful, fit woman who was active, even part of a bowling team. She feared doctors and with one fell swoop she got sick and was gone.

Part of Uncle Babe’s DNA material is made of cork. He pops up to the surface like a cork and doesn’t stay down long. But his wife Dawn took good care of him and made sure he was active and busy.

So many stories about how he and my Dad stuck it out during the depression in Houston. Went off to war in the Navy. Started their own furniture stores. The Kamin brothers with stores next to each other in Houston. And my father with Kamin Furniture in Victoria, Texas. My Dad lost his life to cigarettes at the age of 60. While I was growing up I saw the loving brotherhood and kinmanship they shared going fishing and just sitting staring out into the water of Rockport, Texas. They were an unbreakable pair.

“Your father was the toughest guy. One day we were on a street corner in Houston and two guys a bit drunk came up to us . And your father said “You get the hell out of here or I’m going to beat the hell out of you. Your Dad was always my protector” said Uncle Babe.

The stories I heard that day from our visit made me realize the challenges that he has overcome, not just from the war, but of raising four children, keeping a business afloat, losing his first wife to cancer. Fighting prostrate cancer. Remarkable man. Now the lost of his second wife. I hope to keep a closer eye on him and visit again soon. 

On my trip back to Austin Uncle Babe makes me think of all those wonderful older adults out there that are literally a treasure chest of stories. Stories to startle and amaze you. Lives of endurance, hope, tragedy overcome, incredible heart rich stories of life.

We’re on our way to Master this thing called age. Uncle Babe stands at turnstile with a welcoming wink to encourage us to keep moving forward.

An excerpt from my talk this morning at University of Texas for Austin UP Event (focusing on making Austin a more Age-Friendly City).

Dr. Marc Argonin of Miami Jewish Health Hospital is a trailblazing psychiatrist of Miami Jewish Health Hospital.
Author of The End of Old Age. Published by Da Capo lifelong books. It took me a while to find an individual such as
Dr. Argonin. He is a new breed of thought leaders in creating a positive future in how we see ourselves age.
Dr. Argonin is on the front lines every day helping to shift negative archaic, obsolete ideas on how we conduct ourselves as we age. Hey give a listen. It’s worth your time and your older sense will thank you later.

Here’s the link

Listen to it at one of these 3 …..https://anchor.fm/design-your-age . OR … On Apple ITunes Or Google Play Music

Meet the Swiss Army Knife of Age Scientists. Dr. Steven Austad.
In this premiere podcast Design Your Age invites you on an exploration to meet innovative, ground-breaking individuals in the field of aging. And you have a front row, first class seat to hear about stunning new ideas that will change the way we see ourselves as we get older. In this first episode discover one of the most prolific Age Research Scientist’s on the planet. Dr. Steven Austad has proved his mettle and received medals and awards for his work in aging. Director, UAB Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. International recognition from Fondation IPSEN Longevity Prize. The Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction, American Federation for Aging Research, New York,The Robert W. Kleemeier Award for Outstanding Research, Gerontological Society of America. And many others. Dr. Austad has collaborated with Age scientists all around the globe. Dr. Austad is also a gifted communicator.

Dr. Austad brings a sharper edge to how we see aging. To support Dr. Austad’s work. BECAUSE HE’S DOING INCREDIBLE WORK !! Austad Healthy Aging Fund,” University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of Biology, 1720 Second Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1170. Listen in.

photo by colin carter

Start daydreaming now. Start dreaming of what would be cooler when you are older. We need a new architecture of belief. Because we are presently told to see ourselves as faulty, frail, the nearly dead. Well we ain’t f*^king dead yet. It’s time to create a new way to see things. And create new things in aging. Perhaps your own “Age Valuator”.
Discover a new worth in yourself. Imagine transferring the experience you have into a new currency. One that will economically lift your own sense of self and perhaps even bring you new streams of income. Yes possible. A “New Older” that more exciting that you can imagine.

But if you start dreaming….dreaming aging…you will find there is plenty of landscape for new ideas. Ways we can not only help ourselves but fuel our energy by helping others. Sssshhhhhh. You might want to keep it a secret from the “Age Police” who ask how many years old are you. Or those that say “Act your age, you can’t do that.”
Time to let those people go, they are only driven by their sense of fear of almost every thing.

Bring on new design in all realms. Transportation. Medicine. Community. Wake up there’s a world out there and you can participate and change it. There is a serious side to the positive aspects of aging. How do you start? Make of list of what you’d like to see for yourself to be …as older. Don’t be timid. Be bold. Remember the time in your life where you might have been fearless? I’m asking “How did you muster up the courage to do that?” Remember? You still got it in you. Share your dreams with others on this sight. I’ll credit you ! There is a new world to create. Believe it. Everything around you was once a idea. If you really look you see how older could be better. Starting here, I believe in you.

photography credits:deborah feingold photography AND Daily Mail U.K.

Tuck: “Could we have another take Christopher? I’d like you to just punch up the words “…is everything”.

Christopher : “Oh yes. I see what you are doing there Tuck.”

Truth was I didn’t know what the hell I was asking Christopher Plummer to do. I was in my mid-20’s directing the “Sound Of Music” Christopher Plummer ! Asking him to re-read the copy for a radio ad I had written for Japan Airlines. All of this under the intense gaze of my client and my creative director in a recording studio in New York.

Plummer knew that I was a young advertising copywriter being sized up and he was incredibly gracious to me. Each line. Every take he did was better and better. His agent had meticulously asked for a sum of roughly of $70,000 for Mr. Plummer to read 3 radio commercials. Plus a special limo. Plus special beverages to be available in the limo. Woo-Boy, I was going to be sweating during this recording.

Among the many great voices that sat down next to me during auditions included
James Earl Jones but no one had the lift and velvet hammer voice of Christopher Plummer.The slogan to be read for Japan Airlines was “To be prepared, is everything.” This was part of an advertising campaign I was working on and while I didn’t write the slogan I did write the commercials for which I was very proud.

Today Christopher Plummer is most certainly an “Age Hero” of mine. At the age of 88, Plummer recently leaped into a movie role replacing Kevin Spacey due to all the sexual misconduct allegations around him. Working with the director Ridley Scott, age 80, Plummer shot all his scenes in just nine days. He opted not to watch any of Spacey’s footage. With lightening speed he memorized his lines “Thank God for all my years of doing theatre. …I’m not pushing up the daisies just yet ” said Plummer. And then Director Ridley Scott did a reshoot on a massive scale that has never been attempted before. Plummer now nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance and Scott being celebrated for their extraordinary work on the movie “All The Money In The World.”

What drives Plummer is revealed when you hear him talk excitedly about his work. “I really wanted to find the humanity in this character of J. Paul Getty.” When I meet individuals in their 80’s and 90’s that still have a sense of purpose and usefulness it’s a beyond inspiring to witness. Individuals that are not movie stars just older adults that love what they do. They have become telfonesque about the hurtful ways people describe “useless old people”. Look closely, at that the lessons Christopher Plummer and Ridley Scott are teaching us at 88 and 80 years of age, about not stopping and continuing to grow. That is really worth all the money in the world. “