Reading Together

I once asked Julie "Suppose you could go back in time one thousand years and you could take only one modern thing with you. What would it be?" I had my answer ready. Books! A whole library of books that would take a lifetime to read. After sharing my answer Julie thought only a moment. "Glasses! Without my glasses I wouldn't be able to read."

Hmmm? I hadn't thought of that. I guess I could change my one thing to a whole library of giant print books.

One of my greatest joys is reading a book with Julie. Over the years we've read several together: The Gift of Fear, The Happiness Hypothesis and some whose titles I no longer remember; like the psychology book about second order change. Reading together and discussing a book is a shared joy.

Yesterday we picked up a copy of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. Last week Julie sent me a link to a video entitled The Happiest Place in North America. After watching the video I browsed the website, got interested and decided to check out the book.

I'm not interested in living to be 100 but I am interested in living an independent, rich, full life. I took an online test that's designed to estimate life expectancy. My results surprised me.


Test Results.

The book may provide some useful knowledge to improve my chances for a healthy life. Regardless, reading it with Julie is certain to be enjoyable.

(PS: I'm not 52. Let's not start that rumor. I passed that age a decade ago. The test is trying to flatter me by telling me I'm as healthy as if I was 52 again.)