Turning 80 in Oro Valley has been a surprise. On October 25, I hit the number, and I’ll be honest, it still surprises me every time I say it out loud. I was born in 1946.
Here’s what I didn’t expect. I’m not winding down. I get up, make tea (a habit I picked up in Prague and never dropped), and head out the door, because Donovan expects a walk first thing.
Donovan, the dog who sets the pace for Michael Burns turning 80 in Oro Valley
Not a lap around the yard either. He wants at least a mile and a half, and more if he can talk me into it. Then I go to work. Four businesses are waiting on me. Breakfast for the dogs is Annette’s department, which is just as well. Chica and Donovan didn’t care about my birthday. They care about the walk and the food. I find that clarifying.
The world I’m working in now looks nothing like the one I started in. When I was young, a business meant a storefront, a phone, and a handshake. Today I publish a community site, sell art prints, run a content agency, and host websites for other people. And I use artificial intelligence every single day. My younger self wouldn’t believe that sentence. My 80-year-old self just sees it as a useful tool.
People sometimes ask why I haven’t slowed down. The honest answer is that work keeps me interested in the world. Writing about Oro Valley keeps me out in it. Meeting business owners, hearing their stories, and putting those stories in front of neighbors is about the best job I can imagine. Retirement was never really a goal. Staying useful was.
Here’s the part that keeps me going. ILoveOV now has more than 1,200 articles, and every one started with a person or a place in this town. A business owner who took a risk. A neighbor with a good story. An artist, a musician, a council member trying to get something done. I never run out of material because Oro Valley never runs out of people worth writing about. That’s a better reason to keep showing up than any birthday.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Technology changes faster than I’d like. Some mornings the body asks for a longer pause than the calendar allows. I’ve learned to listen, then get going anyway. Both can be true.
I keep a short list of what matters, and it hasn’t changed in decades. Family, good work, and a long walk.
Eighty also brings a certain clarity. I care less about impressing anyone and more about doing good work for the people I serve. I say no faster. I say thank you more. I pay attention to the small stuff, like a good sunrise over the Catalinas or a quiet evening at home with my wife.
If I have advice, and at 80 I feel entitled to a little, it’s this. Stay curious. Learn the new thing, even when it’s annoying. Keep people around who tell you the truth. And find work worth getting out of bed for, whatever your age.
I’m grateful to this community. ILoveOV exists because Oro Valley is a place worth loving, and you’ve made it easy to keep going. Eighty feels less like an ending and more like a checkpoint.
On my birthday, I had a slice of cake, took a walk (Donovan insisted), and got back to it. Somebody’s got to publish the next story.
Thanks for reading. Here’s to the next chapter.
;>)
