I seem to be following a pattern, or I’m being pulled by an algorithm, where I read Carrie Fisher then Penny Marshall, then Carl Reiner, and now I’m on Dick Van Dyke. It’s like a game of memoir telephone.

This was a real ‘well why not’ read; coming out in 2015, Keep Moving hits on that same vein I’ve seen in a lot of the memoirs I’ve read. Happy people live longer.

Keep Moving summarizes Dick Van Dyke’s main advice; the book is an exploration of how he’s managed to live well into his 90s: a combination of optimism, changing habits when you have to, and never settling down. Perhaps it’s because I finished the book the morning of writing this, but the chapter lingering most in my brain is his conversation with Carl Reiner. Several times in the book Van Dyke considers at what point you feel old. He asks the people around him. He asks Reiner. Reiner says there wasn’t a specific time. The problem, the same problem Van Dyke describes, is that he doesn’t know when or how he got old; he was too busy. He supposes when he feels old is when he wakes up in the morning and looks in the mirror and sees the evidence. But in terms of feeling old? It never occurred to him. It never occurs to Van Dyke. There’s too much to do.

Van Dyke also talks a decent amount about challenging ageism. If someone isn’t capable it’s not because of a number of years, it’s no different than anyone contracting illness or physical impairments, it’s only more likely. I have a friend in disability advocacy who ends every presentation she does on cerebral palsy , which she has; “Remember, I’m a member of the only minority group that anyone can join.” It’s an important reminder that you’re gambling with how you will be treated yourself