"Keep Moving" by Dick Van Dyke

KEEP MOVING and other tips and truths about aging by Dick Van Dyke

                I loved reading this book. It is part memoir and part “how-to” on the art of aging. Van Dyke’s writing is optimistic, positive, energetic, filled with humor, and sprinkled with wise reflections on getting older. Van Dyke was 89 years old when he started writing the book. He is in good health, sharp of mind, and happily married to a woman over four decades younger than him.

                Here is what he shares in answer to the question, “So what do I think really matters.

                                1} Family and Friends

2} Questions (Always questioning about the meaning of life. Questions like; What can I   do to help? How can you be so sure? Am I using my time productively? Am I ok with myself? If not, why? Is my heart open?

                3) Music

                4) Books

                5) A Sense of Humor

Throughout the book the reader is treated to little examples of the author’s creativity and humor. An example is this limerick titled “A Separate Plot”.

There was a young man from Dallas

Who overdosed on Cialis

His body was laid

To rest in the shade

With a separate plot

For his phallus.

The final chapter of the book is a recent conversation between Van Dyke and his best friend, Carl Reiner, who is three years older than the author. Very funny. Finally, this poem.

The Thing That Lasts

The one thing that persists

From childhood through

Whatever age you are right now

Is the love we feel for one another

And still feel even more today.

Love is the thing that lasts.

You feel it more than the aches and pains.

You remember it when other memories fade.

You crave it when you have no taste

For anything else.

You pick it up when you feel weak.

It’s on your smile in the morning

And in your dreams at night.

It’s what you carry around with you every day.

It’s what you take with you.

It’s what you leave behind.

Love is the thing that lasts.

That makes it all worthwhile.

I wouldn’t trade a minute of it.