Jeremy, thank you for all the encouragement. I'm a little embarrassed that I'm working at my age because I didn't save enough to retire. But I'm also proud that I'm working and taking on a new profession that also happens to be very hard. I hope it keeps me young ... if it doesn't kill me.

Yes, I don't have to struggle to stay at a good weight. I don't know why that is. I think I have a kind of built in calorie counter. I quit eating when I've had enough. I'll occasionally overeat, and the next day, I'll eat a little less. I don't drink or smoke.

But as you say, we all have struggles. Since I am my age, I have health concerns, and I've started to take doctors' advice seriously. I also wish I had taken it seriously years ago. I have so many doctors! Nephrologist, cardiologist, urologist, jeez, I can't even remember all of them, and most of them want to see me at least once a year. I'm stiff and getting weak so even though I'm doing better than a lot of Americans, I don't think it's a good standard to compare with since so many Americans abuse and neglect their bodies.

I have deep empathy for the guy with a high maintenance family life. I divorced my kids' mother and had custody. Both of my kids were high maintenance, partly because of the abuse and neglect from their mother. Man, it was tough. An angel fell from heaven to help me, and I'm still married to her. My kids think of her as their true parent. She detests when I call her an angel, so I'll only say it when she's not listening or reading. And now she has her third cancer, and this time, it's leukemia, so I'm scared as hell. She might live a while but already the symptoms are coming, and treatment options seem limited, and the form of leukemia could at any time mutate to a worse form that takes her quickly.

Despite all of this, I have a lot to be grateful for.

Oh, and car-free life is nice. My wife has a car. She commutes to her work one day per week, and we use it on weekends at our weekend home. I just don't want a car, as it's more of a liability than an asset here. Driving in the City is masochism, in my view.