Seniors Health & Fitness Day
May 26
Yearly Date: Last Wednesday in May
I’ve got good news and bad news.
The bad news is that I fit into the category (age wise) for celebrating this holiday. The good news is that I don’t at all think or feel the age on my drivers’ license. So I’m grabbing my tennis shoes and celebrating this holiday like a much younger person.
Okay, I’ll admit, I’ve got good genes. When I was a teen and young adult, everyone thought I was much older, which, then, was a good thing. Then, somewhere in my 40s, I think I hit a breaking point, when I started looking younger than my age. This is also a good thing. Maybe my friends and family were being kind, but my grandmother and mom were the same way.
So, regardless of genes, here are a few things we all do to live our best years, no matter how old we are:
Do something daring.
There’s nothing to make you feel young-at-heart like a good adrenaline rush. Take up a new hobby. Challenge yourself with a new fitness class or regime. Swim with the dolphins. Raft down a river. You’ll feel younger and energized. Be creative. Being in a rut will age you quicker than anything. Keep things lively and your health will benefit.
Develop a kid’s sense of humor.
Whether it’s a “knock-knock” joke or “a guy walks into a bar” classic, it sure feels good when you are laughing. And, to me, it feels even better when you help to make someone else laugh. It doesn’t matter how corny or silly you get, remember that everyone smiles in the same language.
Hug it up.
I’m a touchy, feely kind of person. Physical contact, by way of a hug, is one of the best ways to ward off depression and foster a positive, healthy spirit.
Play like a kid.
Do something goofy. Go to the park and swing or go down the slide. Buy a bottle of bubbles and spend the afternoon on your porch blowing. I love adult coloring books. Color and don’t worry if you get out of the lines. If you do “young” things, you’ll feel younger.
Exercise with younger people.
I’ll admit that I’m the oldest person at my current gym. I’m probably older than many of the members’ grandmothers. But even though everyone else is stronger and younger, by golly, I keep up. The positive vibes are contagious. I love it.
Develop good friends of all ages.
You don’t have to hang around folks that are only your age. From toddlers to great grandmothers, each age has something to teach you.
You are what you eat.
I don’t condone starving yourself, or rigorously denying yourself “to die for” foods, but keep things in check. As we age, our metabolisms slow down and it’s much, much, much harder to lose even 10 extra pounds.
Watch Jeopardy and do crossword puzzles.
Exercise your brain. You’ll never know how much you actually know unless you allow yourself a chance to prove it.
Keep an open mind.
Finally, the best advice I can think of, to stay young, is to simply stop counting how old you are. Don’t dwell on the old person aches and pains that are inevitable. Don’t get comfortable with what you can’t do. We all have a choice to soar beyond ordinary…beyond “old.”
Life has just as much to offer you as a senior as it did when you were a teen.
“You are never too old to become younger.”
~Mae West
Happy Senior Health & Fitness Day!
Quote for the Day
“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”
Famous People Born in May
May 1, 1909- Kate Smith, singer
May 1, 1916- Glenn Ford, actor
May 1, 1918- Jack Paar, TV personality
May 1, 1925- Scott Carpenter, astronaut
May 1, 1945 –Rita Coolidge, singer
May 1, 1960- Steve Cauthen, jockey
May 1, 1967- Tim McGraw, country western singer
May 2, 1729- Catherine II Empress of Russia (Catherine the Great)
May2, 1837 – Henry Robert, author of “Robert’s Rules of Order”, the standard for parliamentary procedures.
May 2, 1860- Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism
May 2, 1892- Baron Von Richtofen, Germany’s’ WWI “Red Baron”
May 2, 1903- Benjamin Spock, physician, author, child-rearing expert
May 2, 1904- Bing Crosby, singer, actor
May 2, 1945- Bianca Jagger, actress, ex-wife of singer Mick Jagger
May 2, 1946- Lesley Gore, singer
May 2, 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, wrestler, actor
May 3, 1469- Niccolò Machiavelli, Renaissance writer
May 3, 1919- Pete Seeger, singer, songwriter
May 3, 1921- Sugar Ray Robinson, champion boxer
May 3, 1933 – James Brown, singer songwriter, producer, actor
May 3, 1936- Engelbert Humperdinck, singer
May 3, 1937- Frankie Valli, singer, the “Four Seasons“
May 3, 1946- Greg Gumbel, sportscaster
May 3, 1951– Christopher Cross, Grammy winning singer
May 3, 1964- Wynona Judd, country singer
May 3, 1974- Jewel Kilcher, singer
May 12, 1820- Florence Nightengale, English nurse and public health activist
May 4, 1889- Francis Joseph Spellman, archbishop of New York
May 4, 1929- Audrey Hepburn, Dutch actress
May 4, 1930- Roberta Peters, opera singer
May 4, 1959- Randy Travis, country singer
May 4, 1979- Lance Bass, singer, member of “NSYNC”
May 4, 1989 – Rory McIlroy, Irish Golfer
May 5, 1818- Karl Marx, socialist, political theorist
May 5, 1913- Tyrone Power, actor
May 5, 1926- Ann B. Davis, actress
May 5, 1934- John J. Sweeney, labor leader
May 5, 1938- Michael Murphy, actor
May 5, 1942- Tammy Wynette, country singer
May 5, 1943- Michael Palin, actor, comedian, member of Monty Python
May 5, 1981- Danielle Fishel, Actress, “Topanga” on TV series “Boy Meets World”
May 5, 1988 – Adele, British singer-songwriter
May 6, 1856- Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist, founded psychoanalysis
May 6, 1856- Robert E. Peary, Arctic explorer, first to reach the North Pole
May 6, 1895- Rudolph Valentino, actor
May 6, 1915- Orson Welles, actor, director, “War of the Worlds” radio hoax on October 30, 1938
May 6, 1931- Willie Mays, Hall of Fame baseball player
May 6, 1945- Bob Seger, singer, songwriter
May 6, 1953- Tony Blair, British Prime Minister
May 6, 1960- Roma Downey, actress
May 6, 1961- George Clooney, actor, director, producer
May 7, 1812- Robert Browning, poet
May 7, 1833- Johannes Brahms, German music composer
May 7, 1840- Peter Tchaikovsky, composer
May 7, 1901- Gary Cooper, actor
May 7, 1922- Darren McGavin, actor
May 7, 1933- Johnny Unitas, NFL quarterback
May 7, 1945- Robin Strasser, actress
May 7, 1950- Tim Russert, TV journalist
May 8, 1828- Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross
May 8, 1829- Louis Moreau Gottschalk, pianist, composer
May 8, 1884- Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. President (1845-1853)
May 8, 1895- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, religious leader , radio/TV
May 8, 1926- Don Rickles, comedian/actor
May 8, 1932- Sonny Liston, boxing champion
May 8, 1940 – Ricky Nelson, singer, actor
May 8, 1943- Toni Tennille, singer
May 8, 1964- Melissa Gilbert, actress
May 8, 1975- Enrique Iglesias, singer
May 9, 1800- John Brown, abolitionist, led attack on Harpers Ferry
May 9, 1860- Sir James M. Barrie, novelist, children’s author
May 9, 1914- Hank Snow, country singer
May 9, 1918- Mike Wallace, TV journalist
May 9, 1936- Albert Finney, actor
May 9, 1946- Candice Bergen, actress
May 9, 1949- Billy Joel, singer, songwriter
May 10, 1838- John Wilkes Booth, actor, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln
May 10, 1899- Fred Astaire, dancer/actor, born Frederick Austerlitz
May 10, 1902- David O. Selznick, producer
May 10, 1944- Judith Jamison, dancer/choreographer
May 10, 1960- Bono (Vox), singer, member of U2
May 10, 1966- Jason Brooks, actor
May 11, 1888- Irving Berlin, songwriter
May 11, 1891- Henry Morgenthau Jr., conservationist
May 11, 1911- Phil Silvers, comic actor
May 11, 1912- Foster Brooks, comedian
May 11, 1918- Richard Feynman, physicist
May 11, 1933- Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader
May 11, 1946- Robert Jarvik, physician, invented the artificial heart
May 11, 1982 –Jonathan Jackson, actor
May 12, 1812- Edward Lear, artist, author of light verse
May 12, 1820- Florence Nightingale, British pioneer in the field of nursing
May 12, 1850- Henry Cabot Lodge, politician/historian
May 12, 1907- Katharine Hepburn, actress
May 12, 1925- Yogi Berra, baseball player, manager
May 12, 1928- Burt Bacharach, songwriter
May 12, 1936- Tom Snyder, broadcaster, journalist
May 12, 1937- George Carlin, comedian
May 12, 1948- Steve Winwood, musician, singer
May 12, 1950- Bruce Boxleitner, actor
May 12, 1962- Emilio Estevez, actor
May 12, 1966- Stephen Baldwin, actor
May 12, 1973- MacKenzie Astin, actor
May 12, 1978- Jason Biggs, actor
May 13, 1914- Joe Louis, boxing champion
May 13, 1923- Beatrice Arthur, actress
May 13, 1927- Herbert Ross, actor, choreographer, director
May 13, 1950- Stevie Wonder, singer, musician
May 13, 1961- Dennis Rodman, NBA basketball player
May 13, 1977- Samantha Morton, actress
May 14, 1686- Gabriel D. Fahrenheit, physicist, mercury thermometers, created Fahrenheit scale
May 14, 1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer
May 14, 1925- Patrice Munsel, opera singer
May 14, 1944- George Lucas, filmmaker, Star Wars creator
May 14, 1948- Meg Foster, actress
May 14, 1955- Dennis Martinez, baseball pitcher
May 14, 1969- Cate Blanchett, actress “Lord of the Rings”
May 14, 1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, Cofounder and CEO of Facebook.
May 15, 1856- L. Frank Baum, children’s author
May 15, 1859- Pierre Curie, chemist, research on radioactivity
May 15, 1915- Paul A. Samuelson, economist
May 15, 1923- Richard Avedon, photographer
May 15, 1937- Madeleine Albright, secretary of state
May 15, 1951- Chazz Palminteri, actor, playwright, screenwriter
May 15, 1953- George Brett, baseball player
May 15, 1955- Lee Horsley, actor
May 15, 1969- Emmitt Smith, Hall of Fame NFL Running Back
May 16, 1905- Henry Fonda, actor
May 16, 1913- Woody Herman, musician, bandleader
May 16, 1919- Liberace, pianist
May 16, 1928- Billy Martin, fiery baseball player, manager
May 16, 1929- Adrienne Rich, writer
May 16, 1953- Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor, “James Bond”, Mama Mia
May 16, 1955- Olga Korbut, Olympic gymnast champion
May 16, 1955- Debra Winger, actress
May 16, 1966- Janet Jackson, pop rock singer, Michael Jackson’s sister
May 16, 1973- Tori Spelling, actress
May 17, 1749- Edward Jenner, physician, pioneered vaccinations
May 17, 1911- Maureen O’Sullivan, actress
May 17, 1936- Dennis Hopper, actor
May 17, 1956- Sugar Ray Leonard, champion boxer
May 17, 1972 – Mia Hamm, Hall of Fame soccer player
May 18, 1897- Frank Capra, director
May 18, 1904- Jacob Javits, New York State senator
May 18, 1912- Perry Como, singer
May 18, 1920- Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), Catholic Pope
May 18, 1930- Pernell Roberts, actor
May 18, 1931- Robert Morse, actor
May 18, 1937- Brooks Robinson, MLB player
May 18, 1946- Reggie Jackson, MLB player, “Mr. October”
May 18, 1952- George Strait, country singer
May 18, 1970- Tina Fey, Actress, writer, SNL
May 19, 1890 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader
May 19, 1925- Malcolm X (Little), civil rights activist
May 19, 1934- Jim Lehrer, TV journalist, author
May 19, 1935- David Hartman, actor
May 19, 1939- Francis Scobee, astronaut, died in Challenger Space Shuttle explosion
May 19, 1945- Pete Townshend, musician, member of the “Who”
May 19, 1945 – Andre the Giant, French wrestler, actor
May 19, 1968- Kyle Eastwood, actor, son of Clint Eastwood
May 20, 1768- Dolly Madison, First Lady of the U.S.
May 20, 1844- Henri Rousseau, painter
May 20, 1908- James Stewart, actor
May 20, 1944- Joe Cocker, singer
May 20, 1946- Cher, ageless singer, actress, producer
May 20, 1971 – Tony Stewart, race car driver
May 21, 1898- Armand Hammer, industrialist, philanthropist
May 21, 1904- Fats Waller, jazz pianist, songwriter
May 21, 1909- Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, teacher, artist, created of Hummel figurines
May 21, 1916- Harold Robbins, novelist
May 21, 1917– Raymond Burr, actor, TV series of the same name, and “Ironsides”
May 21, 1921- Andrei Sakharov, physicist, human rights activist
May 21, 1924- Peggy Cass, Broadway actress, celebrity panelist on “What’s My Line?” and “To Tell the Truth”,
May 21, 1948- Leo Sayer, singer, songwriter
May 21, 1951- Al Franken, comedian, actor, writer
May 21, 1952- Mr. T (Lawrence Tero), actor
May 21, 1956- Judge Reinhold, actor
May 22, 1813- Richard Wagner, composer
May 22, 1844- Mary Cassatt, artist
May 22, 1859- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer, detective stories
May 22, 1907- Lord Laurence Olivier, actor, director
May 22, 1941- Paul Winfield, actor
May 22, 1943- Tommy John, baseball pitcher
May 22, 1959- Morrissey, British pop star
May 23, 1883- Douglas Fairbanks, actor
May 23, 1910- Artie Shaw, musician, bandleader
May 23, 1920- Helen O’Connell, singer
May 23, 1928- Rosemary Clooney, singer
May 23, 1933- Joan Collins, actress
May 23, 1936- Charles Kimbrough, actor
May 23, 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian Chess player
May 23, 1954- Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxing champion boxer
May 23, 1958- Drew Carey, actor, comedian
May 23, 1974- Ken Jennings, Game show “Jeopardy” record winner
May 24, 1819- Queen Victoria, Queen of Great Britain
May 24, 1940- Gary Burghoff, actor, “Radar” in TV series “MASH”
May 24, 1941- Bob Dylan, singer, songwriter
May 24, 1946- Priscilla Presley, actress , ex-wife of Elvis Presley
May 24, 1965- John C. Reilly, actor
May 25, 1803- Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
May 25, 1878- Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, tap dancer
May 25, 1889- Igor Sikorsky, aeronautical engineer, developed helicopters
May 25, 1898- Gene Tunney, champion boxer
May 25, 1943- Leslie Uggams, singer
May 25, 1955- Connie Sellecca, actress
May 25, 1969- Anne Heche, actress
May 26, 1886- Al Jolson, singer, actor
May 26, 1907- John Wayne, actor, best known for westerns
May 26, 1920- Peggy Lee, singer
May 26, 1923- James Arness, actor
May 26, 1928- Jack Kevorkian, physician, and assisted suicides
May 26, 1939- Brent Musberger, sportscaster, commentator
May 26, 1948- Stevie Nicks, singer, songwriter, “Fleetwood Mac”
May 26, 1949- Philip Michael Thomas, actor
May 26, 1949- Hank Williams Jr., country singer
May 26, 1951- Sally Ride, astronaut, 1st woman in space
May 27, 1794- Cornelius Vanderbilt, financier, railroad tycoon
May 27, 1837- Wild Bill Hickock, frontiersman, lawman
May 27, 1911- Hubert H. Humphrey, Minnesota senator, presidential nominee
May 27, 1911- Vincent Price, actor
May 27, 1912- Sam Snead, golfer
May 27, 1915- Herman Wouk, novelist
May 27, 1923- Henry Kissinger, U. S. Secretary of State
May 27, 1936- Louis Gossett Jr., actor
May 28, 1888 –Jim Thorpe, Olympic champion pentathlete/decathlete
May 28, 1908- Ian Fleming, novelist, creator of James Bond movies.
May 28, 1916 –Walker Percy, novelist
May 28, 1931- Carroll Baker, actress
May 28, 1944- Rudolph Giuliani, New York City mayor
May 28, 1944- Gladys Knight, singer, “Gladys Knight and the Pips”
May 28, 1945- John Fogerty, rock singer
May 29, 1736- Patrick Henry, Revolutionary War leader, orator
May 29, 1903- Bob Hope, comedian, actor
May 29, 1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. President, assassinated in office(1960-1963)
May 29, 1939- Al Unser Sr., auto racer
May 29, 1956- La Toya Jackson, pop singer, sister of Michael Jackson
May 29, 1958- Annette Bening, actress
May 29, 1961- Melissa Etheridge, rock singer
May 29, 1975- Melanie Janine Brown, singer, “Scary Spice” of the “Spice Girls”
May 30, 1672- Peter I (Peter the Great), Emperor of Russia
May 30, 1846- Peter Carl Faberge, jeweler
May 30, 1909- Benny Goodman, bandleader, musician
May 30, 1943- Gale Sayers, football player
May 30, 1944- Meredith MacRae, actress
May 30, 1963- Lisa Kudrow, actress
May 30, 1964- Wynonna Judd, country singer
May 31, 1819- Walt Whitman, poet
May 31, 1894- Fred Allen, comedian
May 31, 1898- Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, religious leader
May 31, 1908- Don Ameche, actor
May 31, 1930- Clint Eastwood, actor, director
May 31, 1938- Peter Yarrow, singer/songwriter, “Peter, Paul, and Mary”
May 31, 1943- Joe Namath, NFL quarterback
May 31, 1950- Tom Berenger, actor
May 31, 1961- Lea Thompson, actress
May 31, 1965- Brooke Shields, actress, model