46 Chocolate Bars

A good friend of mine, who thankfully reads a few of my blog entries, sent me a note today. He challenged me with this message:

"Hey RVF. A subject for your blog...heard a speaker who took one of those on-line life expectancy calculators (put in age, height, weight, family history, risk factors, living conditions, etc.) and it pumps out your "for fun" life expectancy. He turns 40 this week..and is supposed to live until 86. He put 86 chocolate bars in a jar...and then pulled one out for each year of his life and talked about what he learned...and how he fucked up...and then started making plans for the next 46 chocolates. Obviously just an illustration for "live your life like you are dying"...type stuff....I thought of you..it was kind of a combination of journals...and lists...what has happened and what will happen. Just for fun...."

 

As he sent it, I felt compelled to take him up on his offer. So, what about this idea of 46 chocolate bars. And how does it feel to take one of those life expectancy quizes?

Here are a few ideas and thoughs:

 

1. Does he really think that, for the last 46 years of his life, he will be able to each chocolate every last one of those years?

 

2. Perhaps a better idea is that he should eat double chocolate for the next ten years - eating the chocolate for the last ten years in advance just in case he either can't eat chocolate then or in case he dies early. And then if he did live - it would be borrowed time, and he would just go out and by more chocolate.

 

3. And besides, who would want to be eating 35 year old chocolate?

 

4. And, I would imagine that by the time we get to 40 years later from today, they will have created a way that we could eat chocolate, without any calories or ill effects!

 

5. As my parents reach their late 60s and early 70s, I have already heard the regret in their voices. They wished they would have traveled earlier. Walked more when they were younger. Taken those trips. Part of it is that while you may be alive, your body starts to fail you. The other part is that when you get to your 70s, you just have less interest in walking or hiking on mountains that you may have when you are 20 or 30 or 40!

 

6. I think a more interesting thing would be to make a commitment to go and try a NEW chocolate bar every year - for the next 46 years - and then write a book about each of those chocolate bars, what parallel it meant to life for the year - and what you learned. Hmmm. That sounds like a great blog or coffee table book to me Anyone want to sponsor me?

 

7. When I was born, in 1962, the life expectancy of a new born was 70.1 years of age for a US citizen. Globally, it was 54.9. By 2007, it climbed to 78 for a US Citizen. Hopefully, even better ideas will come along that might even alter my 70.1. (By the way - below - you will see that I am hoping to push that idea of 70.1).

 

8. I went and took one of those tests. (good one HERE.) Wow - there are a lot of factors that they take into account. It told me that I am supposed to live until I am 89 years old. And that my negative factors were being a guy and my family health. Not a whole lot I can do about that huh? It is also a sobering effect when a tool supposedly can take that into account.

 

9. I have made it a goal for a long time to live to be 100 years old. That means I need to find a way to make up those extra 11 years. And so - I went back to the tool, and started tweaking the tool to "better answers" just to see if I could get close to that 100 years. I was able to make it 99 - but there are a lot of things that I have to do, including:

• Insuring my mother and father to live to be 80 years old
• Stop smoking that marijuana. Ooops!
• Eat way more vegetables and cut out my gourmet bacon. ( low-fat foods with five or more portions of fruit and vegetables)
• Continue my kickboxing 3 times a week until I die! (exercise aerobically at least three times a week for 30 minutes or longer)
• Get more: proctoscopic examinations every other year
• For the rest of my life, not get a single traffic ticket
• And drop 25 lbs to be as thin as I was in high school. Shha! As if that will be happening!

10. But then, as I thought about all that change, I wondered just how much fun life would be over the next 49 years.

 

I think I like the idea of each 46 chocolate bars in half the amount of time, washing them down with red wine to counter balance, and writing about it all!