T-Model Ford, a blues...

...musician, died at age 90-something. His obit in the Times is really worth reading, but the part that caught my eye this morning -- given my theme for the day -- was this:

Mr. Ford toured energetically until last year, when he suffered a stroke. He owed his crackling longevity and lust for life, he said (he had 6 wives and at least 26 children), to a simple three-part regimen.

“Jack Daniel’s, the women and the Lord been keeping me here,” he told The Chicago Sun-Times in 2003.

And I thought, how many times do older people get asked The Secret to a Long Life? And how many of them respond as though they know the answer? And how many of us listen?

You've heard some variation of this, I'm sure:

"My faith in God."

"I never [fill in the blank] drank, smoked, ate red meat, walked under ladders, etc."

"I swim a mile every morning."

But, really, do any of these things ensure a long life? And are any of these people really responsible for their longevity? Do any of them have any idea at all why they lived so long?

Wasn't it really genes? (And the good fortune not to have a piano fall on them while walking down the street?)