Jim Flaherty

My ex-father-in-law has another book out. As you'll see, he's 89 and has a ten-year plan. After reading Loving Longevity, at a mere 69, I've decided to settle for having a 25-year-plan. I first met Jim shortly after I secretly married his daughter. You need to know that we eloped to Colorado, where I proposed on top of Long's Peak—a fairly serious climb to over 14,000ft—and tied the knot a few days later besides a copse of Aspen trees, with an old cowboy and his nurse recruited from a local diner as our witnesses. After arriving back in New York and announcing the news, he took us out to dinner at his favorite sushi restaurant to celebrate. I took solace in having saved him a lot of money on a fancy wedding, but I was still deeply intimidated to meet the man, mainly through having heard so many large-than-life stories about him in the few weeks that I'd had known his daughter, and also because he was about a foot taller than me, and with a big voice to match. I was to find out how big soon after we sat down to eat. I was such a naive and traditional Englishman that I'd never used chopsticks before. Already nervous, this was not the time to learn. It wasn't long before Jim was standing up and shouting across the restaurant. "Get this man a f***ing fork before he starves to death." I realised then that I was going to have to up my game.

Jim was very kind and generous to me over the years of my marriage to his daughter, Shannon, and has remained so since. I'm not so intimidated now (well, perhaps just a little) and my respect and admiration for the man has only ever grown. He remains an incredible inspiration. I think it's fair to say that I pack a lot into my life. Jim is the only person I know who makes me feel like I'm slacking.

There's much great home-spun wisdom in this book, inarguable things that are nonetheless good to be reminded about. Jim suggests embracing four fundamental principles, which really apply to any life, and at any stage of life: eat well, sleep well, exercise well, and most importantly, look after your friendships—enrich your existing ones and make room for new ones. Personally, I've always eaten well and exercised hard. I've got those two covered. I do regret, though, never having given enough attention to sleep, for many years trying to get away with as little as possible, always too much to do and never enough time. That's still the case but I now understand the importance of getting enough sleep. And I'm taking Jim's words to heart in respect to friendships. It's not something I've tended to be very good at throughout my life. Jim has reminded me to do better.

Reading this book, I feel lucky to hear Jim speaking. It's so very much in his inimitable voice, full of wit and great anecdotes, as well as one very poignant section about caring for his partner, who developed dementia in the last years of his life. Thanks, Jim, for sharing a part of your life that I've never fully appreciated before. I'm going to get on your case now about writing a full memoir of your amazingly rich life. I trust that's on your ten-year plan? It better be!