Is Life Really Divided Into Thirds?

Lately, I’ve been giving some thought to my life expectancy. The dictionary defines life expectancy as the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. Essentially we look at life expectancy as the average number of subsequent or remaining years of life for someone at a particular age, according to a particular mortality experience. I checked some statistics in Wikipedia. Humans (males and females combined) live on average 31.88 years in Swaziland, and 82.6 years in Japan. The oldest confirmed recorded age for any human was Jeanne Calment from Arles, France, who lived 122 years. One could certainly question the quality of life of an individual who was 122 years of age, (or for that matter, the quality of life of any centenarian), but that is a different blog). Oddly, I have read reports that state there have been as many as 80,000 centenarians living in the United States at any given time, and if this number continues to increase then all of my averages and calculations become rather meaningless!

The National Center for Health Statistics reported in 2007, the average life expectancy at birth for persons born in the United States was 77.9 years, an increase of 1.1 years from 2000 and an increase of 0.2 years from 2006. American males born in 2000 now enjoy an average life expectancy of 74.1 years, up 0.2 years from 1999. Females have an average life expectancy of 79.5 years. Women can still expect to live longer than men on average, though the gap in life expectancy has narrowed. A 7-year difference between the sexes recorded in 1990 was down to 5.5 years last year. Hurray!!!!! It seems so sad that most men can expect a shorter lifespan than women – especially for us women. As much as I love my girlfriends, I still love the company of a man. And while a very wise doctor once pointed out to me that I don’t “need” a man, I especially like the thought of “wanting” one in my life – all of my life, to the absolute finish line. So, in order to make that happen I will either have to die at an age under my average life expectancy, or fall in love with a younger man, one who is at least 6 years my junior. What a strange dilemma.

At any rate, all of these numbers pouring out of my brain bring me to my original question: "Is life really divided into thirds?" The answer is personal and simple -- only in my own mind, when I'm feeling analytical about my life history. If the average life expectancy of a female living in the United States is close to 80, then each third of a woman's life would calculate out to 26.6 years. I don't remember any life changing events that occurred when I was 26 1/2 or 53, but the years leading up to those life pedestals revealed significant evolution. I've changed in so many ways I often find it difficult to describe myself when asked. For that, I am grateful, proud and a stronger human being. To this end, I'm fairly certain that I've fully embarked on the third and final stage of my life. I hope it is as interesting, exciting, and as adventurous as the first two thirds. In future blogs, I will attempt to reveal how the thirds of my life have impacted the person I am today.