On September 19 of 2025, I am 79 years old. Although I have quite a few health challenges , I am still quite a very capable person. I still can climb Bird Hills, write essays, paint pictures and even begin to learn transcribing popular songs.
I am blessed with few elders who have guided me well to live a productive and happy life.
My brother, Dr. Ting-KAi Chen is one of the role models. My brother is 11 years older than I, he still lives a very active life. On his 90th birthday this year, he and his wife invited their church friends to his house for a potluck dinner. After the feast, he made a presentation on one of the Shakespeare drama play of the Hendry 5th. According to his wife, Ting-KAi had studied Shakesphere’s work and other Western literature for 40 years. My brother told me that he writes his intention of the day and reflection of the past in his journal in the morning and studies literature before going to bed at night.
My brother has been physically active through his life. When he was a child, probably at the age of the elementary school kid, he and my dad took care of a family garden. Every morning around 5 o’clock, my dad woke him up. Together, they went to the garden to water the vegetables in the morning. Then they would walk back home to have a hearty breakfast before going to school.
In the 70’s when I came to the United States, he invited me to attend a Taiwanese American Conference. On the first day of the camp, he woke me up in the morning to swim at a lake on the camp site. Even in the summer day, the lake was still very cold in the morning, probably around 70 F. If my brother didn’t budge me, I would not even try to dip into the water, let alone swimming in the lake.
Dr. Chen ran a New York marathon in 1979 when he was 44 years old. In 1997 when he had a sabbatical leave in Taiwan, I visited him at Kaoshung, Taiwan. Those days I was at Kaoshung, I saw him jogging in the campus every morning.
When he and his wife moved to the Winchester County, N.Y., they established a strong Taiwanese Church community. The house at the Westchester County is spacious. They often host church services and potluck at their house. The community members take care of each other like brothers and sisters.
The longitivity secrets of my brother are simple. He is both physically and mentally active by consistently doing daily walk, read literatures and present his works to his friends. Above all, he has a strong tie to the community he belongs to and never feel lonely.
My brother-in-law, Dr. Charles OU, is another role model for me to follow. Dr. OU is 89 years old, one year younger than my brother with few medical issues including a poor eyesight. Dr. OU lost his wife about 3 years ago. At the time of the death of his wife, his son asked him to move to L.A. to live closer with his son and his grandkids. Charles did buy an apartment near his son. But at the last moment, he declined to move to L.A. The reason is clear; he did not want to leave an already established Taiwanese Community in Washington DC behind. Living in Washington D.C for more than half a century, Charles and his wife had been in a Taiwanese Choir. Being an economic major and a very smart investor, he has been active and still is very active in the Taiwanese based Credit Union.
When his wife died in 2020, he rented out his basement to a single Taiwanese person. They share the same kitchen and often share food together. The sharing of the kitchen and occasionally the meals together relieves the sense of the loneliness especially in the evening hours.
Dr. OU is also quite generous. Being a smart investor with a stable federal pension, he is financially solid. However, he does not hoard his money for his own. He have been sponsoring Taiwanese concert honoring the first democratically elected President, President Lee Tung-Huai since 2022. Recently, he also financially backs up a Taiwanese music web site, https:// lanetaiwan.org where quite a few Taiwanese music collections are stored and shared.
Dr. Ou’s longitivity secrets are also very clear- a strong community, generous, and a very good sense of purpose of living his life.
My other relatives do not do as well as Charles or Ting-KAi. One has recently been diagnosed with dementia and the other has been afflicted with diabetics with a few frightening episodes. They are often Community isolated, and are not physically and intellectually challenged after their retirements.
My wife and I moved to Ann Arbor in 2023 to establish a strong family tie with my son and his family at Ann Arbor. We are living quite an independent life yet see our granddaughter often. We all became WCC Fitness Center members. That was a very smart move for me and my wife. Not only we established a daily exercise routine, we also made health conscious friends. My wife’s routine includes 2-3 group exercises and swimming. For me, the exercise routine includes an hour of resistance exercise, 40 minutes of vigorous cardio exercises, and approximately 30 minutes of stretch and core exercises. At the locker room, we often exchange the health news. Since I am quite well-informed of the health-related reports, I often find audience with my WCC friends.
At the time we were searching the churches at Ann Arbor, we found that the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor has a very strong music program. With little even no hesitation, my wife and I joined the choir of the FPC. That was quite a commitment because it means that we are committed to practice singing for 2 hours every Thursday night. On Sunday morning, we have to be at the church at 8:15 AM for anthem singing practice. The hard work help us improve our musicality because we are surrounded by great musicians and singers in the choir. We also made a few choir friends because we meet and sing together at least 3 hours every week. The choir has a traditional All Saint concert every year. Singing at the All Saint Concert is quite an experience. For example, in 2022, Meeilei and I together with 50 plus good singers sang Mozart’s Requiem. It was almost a once in a lifetime experience.
At Ann Arbor, I joined 3 recorder groups. The recorder group at Saline Senior Center practices once a year. There is an Ann Arbor Recorder Society which practices once a month. Occasionally, the First Presbyterian Church has a recorder which they practice several times a year. Every recorder group is different. The Saline group has few strong players but there are players who are afflicted with Parkinson disease . Parkinson patients usually show signs of dementia. Why do they play recorder? Because music is a very effective therapy for them. The stronger players help out because the group is not competitive. We mean to help each other anyway. I thoroughly enjoy playing all recorder groups. This is because playing the recorder is fun, but playing in an ensemble requires listening skills to make the ensemble music sounds better.
The most astonishing decision I have made this year was to take a Music Theory Class in the fall semester of 2025. There was an occasion that the music director of the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church to which my wife and I also belong volunteered to teach the basic music theory to the church members. I borrowed a book, “Music Theory for Dummies” and browsed the contents so that I could understand what she would be teaching. The book talked about the circle of the 5th, difference of the major and minor, etc. I thoroughly love those subjects because the patterns of those concepts are parallel to the mathematical concepts to which I have taught them for more than 20 years. On the other hand, I was stuck in the subjects of chord progression and triad. Then I learned that there is a senior free educational program. Those events prompt me to take this class starting the fall semester of 2025.
Lastly, I continue to paint watercolor. Watercolor is a meditation practice. I practice watercolor to calm down my mind when my mind is agitated.
In conclusion, although I get one year older than last year, my interest in various subjects keeps expanding. I would continue to take care of my body, sleep well, exercise, and watch for my eating habits so that I can continue to do the things I thoroughly enjoy. I am grateful for what I have, and what I have done this year. Pura Vida, I am alive.
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