It occurred to me that on reaching the age of sixty-five (which required little effort, merely accepting the course of fate, paying attention, and going along for the ride) I should have gained nuggets of wisdom, some benefit of the experience of living life over these six- and one-half decades.

Or to put it more poetically, three score and five years.

So I thought about it for a moment—several actually as I am easily distracted with thoughts racing to and fro in myriad directions touching on an almost infinite number of topics and leading me down pathways, dead ends, and seemingly endless connections to other subjects… but I digress.

Bringing things back into focus, I came up with the one thing, the most important thing, the key to a happy life so simple, so obvious, yet so easily ignored as to cause most drama in our lives.

Here, in a few simple words, is the secret to life learned over sixty-five years of living since my appearance on this planet on July 25, 1956.

Put the toilet seat down.

It is that simple because the simple things matter. The simple things that give us the most joy. The simple things we can do for each other that make life worth living.

It’s taken me sixty-five years to understand this. Now I plan on practicing it for another who knows how many days.

The simple things in life are not free, they are priceless.