As we age our bodies start to react to the wear and tear of life. One morning we realize that groaning we hear as we get out of bed is coming from us. The aches and pains become old friends, suddenly we realize the great satisfaction our fathers got from making those same groaning noises and we find them equally liberating. But one thing that doesn’t get worn out or stop working as we age is our sense of humor.

Comedian George Burns, who lived to age 100 and only stopped performing after a fall two years earlier in 1994, was better known in the last 20 years of his life than he had been at any other time. George Burns became the symbol of aging well: keen wit, sharp mind, active and involved in life and still working at what he loved best.

Simply from a great respect for the man, the performer and because his material is still as funny as it was when it was new, I present these examples of his ageless humor (pun intended).

“Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.”

“By the time you’re eighty years old you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it.”

“You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there.”

“When I was a boy, the Dead Sea was only sick.”

“People ask me what I’d most appreciate getting for my eighty-seventh birthday. I tell them, a paternity suit.”

“I was always taught to respect my elders and I’ve now reached the age when I don’t have anybody to respect.”

“I’m going to stay in show business until I’m the last one left.”

“Age to me means nothing. I can’t get old; I’m working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you’re working, you stay young. When I’m in front of an audience, all that love and vitality sweeps over me and I forget my age.”

~ George Burns ~ January 20, 1896 - March 9, 1996

Today, September 10th, is Grandparents’ Day. Created by an act of Congress in 1978 and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, Grandparents’ Day always falls on the first Sunday following Labor Day.

Grandparents’ Day was created to honor the contribution that grandparents make to the lives of their grandchildren, sharing love and wisdom, enriching our relationships and bridging the gap between the generations.

There are about 56 million grandparents in the US today. About 5.7 million grandparents have grandchildren under 18 living with them.

In South Salt Lake Utah, a 75-year-old woman chased down a purse-snatcher and recovered her stolen purse.

On Wednesday, Betty Horton was loading groceries into her car when she looked down and saw that her purse had been stolen. She spied a man running with it under his arm and chased him down the street until she came upon him looking into her open purse. Although she didn’t have a gun, she told him to give it back or she would shoot his ear off.

The man apologized and told Betty he was broke. Feeling sorry for him, Betty gave him $3 and warned him to leave. When police arrived he was gone.

Betty said she was wearing her running shoes.

Read the full story here.

An updated report from the Federal Forum on Aging-Related Statistics shows that labor force participation rates are increasing for older men and women.

The report shows that among men aged 65 to 69, the participation rate increased from 25% in 1993 to 34% in 2005 and the percentage of women in the same age group who were still working rose from 14% in 1985 to 24% in 2005.

For Americans over 70 the rates continue to rise as well and have done for at least a decade. 10% of men age 70 and older were working in 1993, in 2005 the rate was 14%. The participation rate for women age 70 and older increased from only 4% in 1987 to 7% in 2005.

The Federal Forum on Aging-Related Statistics is comprised of 13 federal departments and agencies which collect, provide, and use data on aging designed to serve policymakers, the media, and the public with an interest in information on the well-being of older Americans.

Older Americans Update 2006