“My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She’s 97 today and we don’t know where the hell she is.” ~Ellen Degeneres

My grandma, “Ama” turned 80 years old today. Having a new octogenarian in the family, I’ve studied her carefully, trying to figure out some of her secrets to life. I’m fascinated by people such as Jack LaLanne who continue to thrive well into their winter years.

Ama started walking a few miles each day in her 50s, and she’d say exercise has been her lifeblood. In a note I received today, she glowed: “I need to stay busy and I LOVE yard work.” (BTW, the “O” in “love” was a HEART).  She still walks, almost every day.  Four years ago, on her 76th, she hiked Angels Landing.

She drinks only beer, coffee, milk and water, and she doesn’t eat cheese. She takes niacin and a multivitamin but she’s not a supplement fan. And definitely not big on modern medicine.

I’ve learned so much in life from her that it’s difficult to describe. But the most striking things came into focus in the last year,

A couple weeks back, I announced that I planned on deleting my Facebook profile. A few people asked why, so here’s my response.

I’ve had a difficult time deciding who to “be” on Facebook. For example: do I accept friend requests from my clients? How much do I want my professional and personal life to overlap? In many ways, I’m a pretty private guy. This overlap necessitates a certain amount of self-censorship, and that bothers me.

Facebook provides lots of ambient knowledge (via status updates) but I don’t feel that I actually process the information very effectively. And how important is it to have all this knowledge, anyway? The site is supposed to help us “connect and share with the people in your life” but often, I feel isolated on Facebook, with most interactions lacking much depth.

My mom’s death last month sharpened my focus on a lot of things, one of them being my desire to make an effort to spend more quality time with the people in my life who matter most. I have hundreds of friends on Facebook, but really I’ve got eight or 10 close friends who I interact with on a regular basis. My intuition says that when I quit Facebook, my close relationships will have a pretty strong uptick in quality, via phone calls and real “face” time.

This quote is on our fridge: “Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life.”

My mom loved her laptop, but she never joined Facebook. She was too busy knitting, hiking and having friends over for dinner. I too, want to do more yoga, hike the Grand Canyon, bake more cookies, travel, laugh with friends, and go on more adventures with Bronson. I’m pretty sure that when my time comes, I won’t wish I’d spent more time on Facebook.

I welcome your thoughts.

Our homemade ad for marriage equality is literally votes away from becoming a finalist in “Project: Pushback” … but we need your help. Would you vote for us?

All you have to do is click on the “HEART/I LIKE” icon on the vid below (or here), or pass it on to a few friends.

Just Like Anybody Else from Project Pushback on Vimeo.

First Look: at my shortened marriage equality spot. I submitted it to Project Pushback. You can also help by embedding or forwarding the ad using the tools in the player below.

Thanks everyone!

I took this photo in the last hour of my visit to Utah to see my mom 0n Mother’s Day.  She really liked this picture. That made me smile.”