“The kind of lifestyle that I want to lead, I can’t afford to grow old,” 90-year-old Buddy Gaines said. “And I still have a lot of living left to do. A lot.”
Buddy is the father of Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines. He also built a creative career making films and commercials with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Now retired, Buddy is hardly retired from life. He swims hard every day in his endless pool and recently made his competitive swimming debut at 90, winning the 25m freestyle in the 90-to-94-year-old age group at the Rowdy Gaines Masters Classic. Buddy said he just didn’t want to let Rowdy down.
“I wanted him to be proud of me, and if I could swim fast for him one day, then it would make me proud, too,” said Buddy.
Buddy is driven by curiosity and a desire to experience the world firsthand. “He is up for just about anything and that passion and that enthusiasm make it fun,” noted his wife, Laurie Ann.
As he and Laurie Ann travel, visit relatives, and run errands, Uber makes getting around easier.
“I can see on my phone where they are, where they’re going to pick me up,” Buddy said. “I love Uber. I can’t express to you, I hate to drive. I really don’t like driving.”
“We travel a lot with my niece Anna, who is much younger and much more tech-savvy, and she would just Uber us everywhere,” Laurie Ann explained. “So, I said, ‘Anna, please show me how to use Uber so that we can start paying for some of these trips.’ And I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I noticed that there is a senior version of the app where they’ll even honk or get out of their car or shout your name, just so you know you’ve got the right vehicle. So, I think it’s super. I love it. I absolutely love it.”
For Buddy Gaines, life is an adventure that begins with getting off the couch. He’s not pretending that age doesn’t exist. He’s simply refusing to let it make his decisions for him.
“You got to get off your butt, get off the couch,” Buddy said. “I have a lot of living left to do and I will not be denied it by becoming an old man.”
