The Beginning

I don’t recall the exact date, but it was about two months before my 70^th birthday.  

I awakened early in the morning in a chilled sweat from a frightening dream that jerked me awake with an aerial view of my body reclining in a coffin.   My initial feeling of relief that it was just a dream was immediately replaced by sinking feelings of despair and hopelessness as I thought about my death.   I turned my head to look at the precious face of my sleeping wife, which caused me to catch my breath as tears flooded my eyes.  The fear of us not “growing old” together totally overwhelmed me.

My fear was not totally irrational.  When I met and married Merrilee in my early 60’s, she was and continues to be exactly 20 years and 1 month younger than me.  She had become my major motivation for GROWING YOUNG.  My passionate obsession was to stay healthy to share and enjoy life with Merrilee for as long as humanly possible. 

 

I rolled out of bed, brewed a cup of coffee, turned on some Eric Clapton blues and sat down at the computer and began writing. 

As I began writing about the nightmare of my death in the coffin, my depression and anxiety began to fade… I suddenly knew what I needed and wanted to do:  I changed the title of “Ray’s Journal” to “GROWING YOUNG WITH RAY” and officially began my anti-aging blog.

                                                                                                     

Now, after almost three years and hundreds of hours of research, study and writing, I am ready to share what I have learned and will continue to learn about GROWING YOUNG as we age.