Saw an interview with the author of The Blue Zones Dan Buettner on Bill Maher the other night. He discussed how a Blue Zone is an area where folks live a lot longer than the average life span of their contemporaries. U.S. expectancy is about 79 and we rank 34th in the world (click here.) This is another of those quality of life world metrics that one would think that the U.S. should be higher ranked. However, of the 5 Blue Zone areas that Buettner discussed, Loma Linda, California surprisingly was on the list. Check out this quick video overview on the 5 Blue Zones that Buettner identified.. (Note that YouTube has several other, longer interviews and discussions on this if you are interested.)
But having learned of this, I’m wondering if maybe the Ridge area doesn’t somehow have its own Blue Zone thing going for it. My two 4 O’clock Club members Charlie (88) and Capt. Jerry (86) are still very active and spry. For example, Charlie and his brother Jim who is 90 are flying to Oklahoma tomorrow. When I say flying, I don’t mean going to BWI and flying as a passenger on a commercial plane either. Charlie’s brother Jim has a Cessna 172 that they fly in across the country. Charlie tells me that it’s a three stop trip (for fuel) that takes them 10-12 hours to complete. “We should be there by sunset,” Charlie says. How’s that for still getting it done? I don’t like doing 10-12 hour flights in a commercial plane.
But back to my suggesting that Ridge is a Blue Zone too, if I do a quick survey just of my immediate circle of family and friends, I find that in addition to Charlie and Capt. Jerry, there are several folks here who are way ahead of the U.S. average 79 years old life expectancy.
Just last Friday I had lunch with my Mom celebrating her 84th birthday along with Judy Raley who is also 84. (In a blog post on this, I also mentioned my Godmother Peggy McMurray who is 84.) And when it comes to being 90 plus, Bobby Wright’s and Kim Wiley’s Moms Lucille and Eloise respectively, are both in their 90’s. (Lucille’s sister Frances is up there too.) And these are just a few folks, as there are several other Ridge residents who are also well into their 80’s and 90’s.
Bottom line, I may just have to write to Mr. Buettner and suggest to him that perhaps there are Six Blue Zones in the world.
Top five Dylan tunes, I got this one right up there. (Frank, the Pope and Bill (4:55-5:05 mark) only Bob could pull off that trifecta.)