So… the headline said:  “Want to live to 90 years old? A new report reveals how you can.”  Always interested in what’s ahead for me — after all, I’ll be 90 in just three years and a couple of months — I read on.

The article was by Najja Parker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and dealt with a research study based in the Netherlands.  Bottom line:  I’m not tall enough to have a good shot at living past my 90th birthday.  Not tall enough by several inches.  Never have been. Say what???

But there it was in black and white:  “In fact, the authors [of the study] found that women who were taller than 5 feet 9 inches were 31 percent more likely to reach 90, compared to those who were under 5 feet 3 inches.”

Well… sh**!  I’ve never reached the five-foot-three mark in my life.  “Five feet two, eyes of blue…” that was me.  Until maybe ten years ago when I began to shrink.  I think I’m under five feet now and no telling if I’ll even be tall enough to measure by 2026!

I gave the rest of the article only cursory attention (as you might imagine!) but in a related article I saw some interesting news from a study done by the University of California. “After analyzing the results, researchers found that those who drank two glasses of beer or wine a day were 18 percent less likely to die before reaching their 90s…  Those who exercised 15 to 45 minutes daily were just 11 percent less likely to die before their 90s.”  In other words, alcohol outperforms (ahem) exercise in the Aging Department!  (Doncha just love California??)

I may have to re-think a few priorities here…