Make Your Life in Retirement Memorable

Jim Rohn, someone who I consider to be one of my mentors, once said “life is not just the passing of time.  Life is the collection of experiences and their intensity”. 

If a complete stranger reviewed how you are currently living your life in retirement or how you are planning to live your life once you retire, would they see any intensity or emotion or enthusiasm in your life?  Or would they simply see someone going through the motions?

Thomas Parr lived a long time ago and he lived a long time.  But Thomas did not let reaching a certain age slow him down.  You may not agree with everything he did but had Thomas reached age 65 and simply let time pass him by, you would never have heard of Thomas Parr. 

Thomas Parr was born in 1483 in the West Midlands of England.    

As a young man, Thomas led a pretty normal life laboring in the fields of the local estate.

Times were tough but like any healthy young man, Thomas liked to spend his time with the ladies of the county.

The years went by and although Thomas was enjoying life, he decided it was time to settle down and so at the tender age of 80, he married a lady by the name of Jane Taylor.

We don’t know a lot about Jane Taylor but we are pretty sure that she was younger than Thomas because Thomas and Jane had two children, a son and a daughter.

Now, although Thomas and Jane were married for over 20 years, we know that Thomas continued to like the ladies for at the age of 100, he was forced to perform public penance for adultery after fathering a child with Katherine Milton.

Sadly, time caught up with Jane and she passed away leaving Thomas to fend for himself.

But, as we have already noted, Thomas was not the type to let age slow him down, so ten years after Jane’s death, Thomas found himself another bride and coincidently, her name was also Jane, this time Jane Lloyd.

In 1635, the Earl of Arundel, the lord of the estate on which Thomas lived, kept hearing fantastic stories of a fellow called “Old Parr”.

As the Earl was trying to get on the good side of the King of England, Charles I, the Earl thought Thomas might be useful, being the oldest man alive and all.

So, the Earl whisked Thomas off to London and presented him to Charles I.

Almost immediately, Thomas became a public celebrity and he met more people in London than he had known in his entire life back home, extensive as it was.

Even a well-known artist of the day painted his portrait.

Unfortunately, Thomas was used to more of a country life and the rich diet of the city, the myriad of visitors and London’s pollution did not agree with him and he fell ill and died.

His body was examined by the eminent physician, William Harvey, who could find no apparent cause of death apart from old age.

Charles I accorded Thomas Parr the privilege of burial in Westminster Abbey and his portrait now resides in the National Portrait Gallery.

Thomas Parr lived 152 years and 9 months.

For Thomas Parr, life was not just the passing of time.    Don’t let it be for you either.