Field Notes from Australia

Research explains aging. Observation reveals it. 

There is a kind of attention that changes what you see. It’s not the attention of a tourist, collecting restaurants, and taking pictures. It is quieter than that. It notices how people live, how they move through a place, how they age, and what a place asks of their bodies and their minds. 

Field Notes is a new part of BROKERAGE™. These installments arrive occasionally, and often from guest contributors who have visited somewhere interesting and paid close attention while they were there.

What follows is one of those observations. It is not a study. It is not formal research. It is a straightforward account from someone who was there long enough to see something real, and generous enough to share it. 

We think you are going to love this.

About the Guest Contributor

This week's Field Notes are from my brother-in-law, Mark Shank, who recently returned from Australia. He was there to watch the induction of two close friends into the Australian Water Ski Hall of Fame. While there, he found time to ski and stop by the Formula 1 races. 

Mark is, by any measure, a man who has lived with intention. He built a distinguished career in law without ever fully leaving the water. He learned to ski at six, to barefoot ski at thirteen, and spent six summers performing in water ski shows before the legal profession claimed most of his daylight hours. He never fully left skiing.

 Mark found his way back and competed in his first barefoot tournament at 59.

He is 71 now and still competes. He serves as Rules Committee Chair for the World Barefoot Council, which is the kind of detail that reveals a lot about how he approaches life. He reports that at 71, he can physically do anything he could do at 51. He will concede the occasional nap. That is the full list of his compromises. 

I could not think of a better person to launch this feature. Mark has always paid attention in a way most people don’t, and it shows in how he lives as much as in what he writes. It meant more to me than I can easily put into words that he took the time to capture these observations. It is a gift, and I am truly delighted to share it with you.

Read Mark's Field Notes about Australia