Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I watched the new Indiana Jones movie: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 

I really liked it. To me, the first one (Raiders of the Lost Ark) was the best of all. Didn’t like the 2nd, at all (Temple of  Doom), then liked the 3rd one almost as much as the 1st (The Last Crusade). It’s the one with Sean Connery. The 4th came out almost 20 years later (Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls). I enjoyed it, but it had some quirky parts. I’d put it in 3rd place.

But yesterday we watched the end of an era. The 5th and Last Indiana Jones film. The star is 81 years old. And, well, he looks it. They did some amazing special effects to show him at younger ages during film flashbacks, but when they showed him in the present (the film is set in 1969), Indy looks every bit of 81. 

As the last scene ended, we get to see Indy and Marion (his love interest in Raiders), together again, as a very old couple facing an uncertain future. It was pretty touching, especially knowing…this is it. The end. The very end. No more Indiana Jones after this moment.

But sitting there in the theater, watching it with my wife, Cindi, was kinda freaky in a way. Because I realized, she and I had sat there together in a theater back in 1981–youthful, married just 5 years, in our early 20s–and here we were watching the last one together–in our mid-60s. And there on screen were a very old and gray Indy and Marion, together on screen for the very last time.

I realized…we had grown old with Indy. But it wasn’t a movie. It was real life. Our life. That first Indy movie was 42 years ago. That’s a long time, going by one day a time. But I was also happy to be there at that moment, sitting with the same lady I had watched the first Indy film. Unlike the rocky, on-again-off-again relationship Indy and Marion shared, we’ve had a pretty great time of it. Plenty of. challenges, for sure. But we’re still in love, never fell out of love, and still each other’s best friend. 

For me, that’s been a definite upside to growing old.