Chapter 41
THE LEGEND OF GRANDPA BILL
In 2006, I had to do club appearances three nights per week. I dreaded it. But I started noticing this old man at every club appearance. He was usually with an older lady; everyone assumed it was his wife. Over time, I only saw the old man; the older lady had stopped coming.
Now when I say “old man,” I’m not talking about some 50-year-old sugar-daddy who’s strolling the club for young girls. This guy had to be in his 70’s. He crept along at a turtle’s pace, wearing glasses and a hearing-aid. Nobody really knew what his story was.
Then he started dancing. All the young girls in the club thought it was the cutest thing ever, so they often danced with him. Somebody told me he was a fan of the show.
I was like, “Really? What’s a senior citizen doing listening to pop music?”
After a while, we finally started talking. He’d come find me whenever he got to the club. Then we started hanging out more. I asked him if he’d like to come up to the radio station to host the countdown.
“Well, I guess that’ll be alright,” he said.
I would soon find out that, “Well, I guess that’ll be alright” is his answer to pretty much anything you ask him. Over the course of the next couple of years, Grandpa Bill accompanied me—and my other friends—on several road trips, trips to the beach, and a skiing trip (where he insisted he be allowed to ski). He would attend pretty much anything he was invited to.
“Well, I guess that’ll be alright.”
I’d bring Grandpa Bill into the radio studio every Tuesday night for “Tuesdays with Grandpa Bill.” I borrowed the idea from Mitch Albom’s book Tuesdays with Morrie. The book highlights Mitch’s experience spending time with a dying old man named Morrie. Mitch gained a lot of wisdom through the experience. The old man benefitted in numerous ways as well.
I’d ask Grandpa Bill questions about life and “the old days,” then he’d introduce the next Jay-Z song. It was a trip. You can hear some of our old radio moments on my website www.TheNiceLife.com .
After spending time with Granpda Bill, he finally shared his story. He’d been married to the same woman for 43 years. After she passed away in 2002, he says he sat around the house feeling sorry for himself.
That’s when he decided to start his new life. At the age of 75, he started going out to the clubs. He taught himself to dance. Now, he takes pride in his “advanced-level” dancing abilities, even talking trash about the young guys who “stand on the wall.” He says, “Girls want a man who can move!”
Grandpa Bill can be found in any downtown Birmingham bar or club until four or five in the morning. His favorite thing to do is dance on the pole or on stage—where everybody can see him. Just last weekend, we were in the most popular club in Birmingham, and he had a 20-something knockout wrap her legs around his waist, as he held onto the pole and danced. Everybody was crowded around cheering and taking pictures.
[Update: It’s currently January 10th, 2010, as I move through the final, final, final edit of this book. On New Year’s Eve, Grandpa Bill was dancing on the center of the stage and it was like Elvis was in the building. The flash of cameras—from the 20-something crowd—was illuminating. He confessed that he “loved that” afterward.]
Grandpa Bill injects joy and hope into the lives of everyone he encounters. Everybody knows him; everybody respects him; most folks want their picture with him. The most common statement from all the 20 and 30-somethings is: “You’re my hero. I hope I’m like you when I’m your age.”
Grandpa Bill always takes time to shake everyone’s hand. In our private moments, he gushes about how those young girls make him “feel young again.” He always talks about how lucky he is. And he does like to talk a lot of trash about all the young guys who refuse to dance.
Grandpa Bill is now 78 years old, but his mind is still sharp as a tack. If I tell him there’s something coming up on next Thursday at 7:15 pm, and to call me at 4 pm if he wants to go, you best believe my phone rings at 4 pm on the next Thursday.
He often tells me how he’s having the most fun he’s ever had in his entire life—right now. It’s all because he decided to start living again—at the age of 75. How old are you—with all your excuses?
Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if he had decided to continue feeling sorry for himself. I remember Anthony Robbins saying that a good percentage of people die within three years of retiring. It’s because they’ve lost their passion; they’ve lost their “reason” to live. They’ve been used to a certain routine (or purpose) for so long, that when it disappears, they lose their will to live.
I wonder how many elderly people truly die of a broken heart, after their spouse passes. I wonder how many perfectly healthy people are slowly dying of the same thing. They feel empty; they feel lost; they feel hopeless.
Grandpa Bill felt the same way. He was 75 years old and had just lost his wife of 43 years. He was retired. What reason could an old man have to continue living?
Dancing.
Dancing with hot babes.
Dancing with lots of hot babes.
Grandpa Bill still has a great sense of humor, too. One time, he said, “Girls will always come up to me and say, ‘I danced with you two weeks ago’, to which, I’ll reply, ‘How many girls ago was that?’”
Grandpa Bill is a pimp. In fact, last Saturday, he dressed up as Hugh Hefner for Halloween. He ordered the same exact robe Hef wears—the chics were totally digging it. He still has a dream of visiting the Playboy Mansion one day. To Grandpa Bill, such a dream doesn’t seem impossible.
At age 78, Grandpa Bill still frequents the club every weekend. He also works 30+ hours per week at Walmart. He changes his own oil, repairs his own car, and cuts his own firewood. In Grandpa Bill’s mind, nothing is impossible. His decision to “start living again” at age 75, has proven (by his own experience) that where there’s a will ... there’s a way.
What can we learn from Grandpa Bill and Dan Caro? We determine what something means. We get to create our life-experience. We can do anything we set our minds to.
Excuses are a joke—no matter who you are.
My Truth says ... it’s never too late to start your life again. It’s never “wrong” to climb new mountains. The best is yet to come.
What does Your Truth say?