Dawn and I spent Memorial Day weekend in Grenville, South Dakota, where her dad, Bernie, and several of her relatives reside. At last count, during the 2020 census, 48 souls were reported to be residents of Grenville. As many of those 48, present and accounted for, were old souls in 2020, five years’ time may have served to lower that count a bit.

Bernie’s guest room was spoken for, so we stayed with Dawn’s Uncle Tony, who lives on the homestead his uncle established many moons ago a few miles outside of town. Tony is Bernie’s brother, and at 88, the eldest of the nine Lesnar siblings, of whom eight are still above ground.

When I teach my Aging & Death and Lifespan Wellness courses, I often blab about the components of healthspan (Mind, Body, and Spirit) as “buckets” we can fill throughout life with adequate social connectivity, bolstering cognitive reserve, sufficient exercise, adequate nutrition, and appropriate emotional and stress navigation.

Buckets filled with the aim of helping us to live as fully as possible until we are as fully dead as possible. Barring of course the various uncontrollables that sometimes upend our buckets and lay us low such as disease, getting run over by a rogue heifer, or, more likely, just some bum genetics.

They say that successfully living life up to about 80 is largely dictated by lifestyle and that the years beyond that are largely dictated by genetics. My grandma Helen Ellis, who lived quite fully until 92, possessed the one genetic ace of spades that I was hoping to get dealt from my grandparents’ ancestral lineages, but, alas, I’m fairly certain the card I’ll eventually flip over is the 3 of hearts…triple bypass. So it goes.

With Tony, although the deck was cut right and he was dealt a pretty solid genetic hand, he is also a fine example of someone that is actively and mindfully filling his buckets and getting every last drop out of life. He’s very social, he keeps in regular contact with family members, he walks, lifts weights, gardens, is mindful of his diet, and keeps a very tidy house.

Regarding his weightlifting…we were watching the Minnesota Twins baseball game, and Tony would periodically grab the dumbbells by his recliner and knock off about 100 bicep curls and overhead presses. Smacking his biceps like a body builder prepping for a gun show, he told me that he had firmed his arms up by starting with 2lb dumbbells and working his way up to 5lb dumbbells. One of the few physical ailments that has found Tony is blurred vision in one eye, and upon inspection, he had in fact started with 5lbs and worked his way up to 8lbs.

I always enjoy the time I get to spend with Tony. He is curious about life, thoughtful and articulate in conversation, and possesses an ever-ready smile and a mischievous and lighthearted personality that I’m sure has served him well throughout his long life.

Tony’s farm sits among the sloughs, lakes, prairies, and farmlands of northeastern South Dakota, a landscape enveloped in gray and quiet throughout the long winter, has now opened up its vibrant color palette and is teaming with the many sounds of spring. All of which, even after 88 years of living, is not lost on Tony.

With obvious gratitude for life, he drinks it all in as we sit in the cool night air and listen to all the life around us and ponder the life in front of us.