An acquaintance once told us about a man who, each morning, used to come down to the hot tub in their apartment complex. The man was somewhere in his late 50's and in obviously failing health. He would hobble over to the hot tub, slowly make his way down the steps, and painfully settle himself into the hot water. Then, for the next half hour, he would strain this way and that, trying to get various parts of his body in front of first one, and then another, of the jets.

And every morning he would utter the same lament: "Not enough jets. There's just not enough jets."

We do not want to reach the ripe old age of a hundred plus years if the last third of them are going to be in this kind of debilitating ill health.

If we are going to extend our life span, we want that extended time to be filled with vigor and mobility.
We want that time to be filled with meaningful activity.
We want that time to be filled with wellness.

The authors wish there was a word that embodied the idea of going into an extended life span in wonderfully good health - perhaps something like "wellgevity". Such a word would also have connotations of happy fulfillment.

And that is what we wish to address here - our thoughts on a mode of living that will promote such a possibility, that will grant us those extra years and decades in a body that is replete with wellness.

Because if we can gain those extra years and decades, we want them filled with energy and satisfaction.
We want them filled with joyous pursuits and fulfillment.
We do not want them filled with a glassy eyed stare out a window onto nothingness.
We do not want them filled with hobbling and pain.
Most of all, we do not want them filled with mornings like those of the old man in the hot tub - starting each day with the lament: "Not enough jets!"