I read somewhere recently (a meme on the internet, I suspect), that “The First 70 Years of Childhood Are Always the Hardest!” It reminded me of one of my favorite obituaries. Some of you, perhaps, like me and my wife, have acquired the hobby of recreational death notice reading. Maybe that sounds odd — but truly, it’s interesting reading.

The obituary I was reminded of was from years ago. The guy who passed away was said to have lived by a motto. His motto: “You are only young once, but you can be immature forever.” Before he passed on, his friends gave him a lifetime achievement award for “outstanding achievement in immaturity.”

In addition to the fact that the guy was only a few years older than me, I remembered one other thing. He died exactly one week after playing golf and getting his first hole in one!

I like the concept of being youthful and “responsibly immature.” As difficult as it is, I’m attempting to hang on to those concepts in my life. I see others who are doing well with “the battle.” And then there are some who have given up and say “I’m too old to _________ (fill in the blank). The sad “fill-in” for that blank, I think, would be, I’m too old: “to have fun anymore.”

There are various people I look to as examples of retaining youthfulness. Last Saturday, Valentine’s Day, my wife and I were in the same room as three apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I am five days older than Elder David A. Bednar. We’re 73 years young. Elder Ronald A. Rasband is 75. And Elder Clark G. Gilbert, the brand new apostle, is 55. Of course they’re all a far cry from 93, which is church President Dallin H. Oaks’ age.

So my observation of those three church leaders, and their wives, led me to believe that they’re youthful, but probably not too immature. They seemed to know how to have fun. They were smiling — a lot. They seemed happy. They appeared to love interacting with those around them.

My “very astute observations” (if I may humbly use that perhaps prideful phrase myself) was based on my observational skills by use of my binoculars. As Yogi Berra, baseball’s famous “accidental philosopher” once said, “You can observe a lot by just watching.”

The “room” I was in, sharing company with those church leaders, was the Marriott Center arena at BYU. The event was a basketball game. The Cougars beat the Colorado Buffaloes. The score was 90 – 86 in overtime. I was one of 18,163 people in the room.

I took a “zoomed in” video of the leaders during a traditional, peppy, cheering time late in the game. It’s where the student section and some of the rest of the crowd puts their arms around each other and then sways back and forth to the beat of the music.

I’m using the video with my family and friends to play a version of the game “Where’s Waldo” — but in this instance, it’s “Where’s the Apostles?” (They’re not too hard to spot. Just look for the suits, white shirts and ties.)

Anyway, you can tell that I was impressed with the youthfulness of these exemplary, high profile people. They didn’t seem to be “old” or “un-fun.”

Looking elsewhere, I always keep an eye on my longtime rival Paul McCartney. I haven’t been in the same room with him since last October. That room was a sold-out Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas (50,000 to 60,000 in attendance). I also used my binoculars there at times for observational purposes.

I use the term “rival” referring to the former Beatle, because my wife always calls him her “first love.” He’s a great example of youthfulness. He’s 83 — 10 years to the month older than me.

The old Beatle seems young. He’s always busy — touring and doing projects. He’s planning a new tour in 2026 — and reportedly a new album. Some people ask me, “Doesn’t he have enough money?”

With a net worth of around $1.2 billion — no, he doesn’t need the money. I think it’s the pursuit of the “youthful dream” of making music and enjoying life in a way that creates happiness for him, and his fans.

I’ve decided that I’m just going to continue to do my best to stay young’ish for as long as I can. I’m proud of my “Peter Pan Syndrome.” Remember Peter singing the song, “I Won’t Grow Up?”

Years ago, I used to grow a beard to appear to be older than I was. These days, I’m clean shaven in an attempt to appear younger than I am. There’s something about a white beard that just doesn’t portray the dictionary definition of “young” (though, it looks good on many guys).

Regardless of age, let’s try to stay young’ish, responsibly immature, and fun-loving here in Sanpete. We deserve it.

And there are lots of opportunities to keep moving, keep socializing, and keep encouraging each other! What do you say? (I think I can hear a unified “Let’s Do It! I like that!”) — Merrill