One of these days, you may need a role model to show you how to function at an age most would call "old" without acting like you are. If you do, I highly suggest this guy who is, the calendar would have us believe, 96 years of age today. If he is, he hasn't told his body. He still moves and gets around and even dances like a much younger man…and I don't mean a much younger man of, say, 92. I mean way younger than that.
He would also be a good role model for anyone who needed to learn to be incredibly nice. This might be especially important if you were famous and beloved and everyone wanted to tell you how much they adored you in this movie or that TV show. To be honest, that's not likely to happen to either of us but just in case you surprise me…
In my lifetime, I have been with two celebrities who were astoundingly nice to strangers who approached them in public. It was a constant occurrence but they always acted genuinely pleased and surprised by a moment of such adoration, even if the previous one was less than ten minutes earlier.
Dick was one and the other was Jimmy Stewart. I was unable to tell whether it was good manners or good acting but either way, they sent the fan on their way with a happy memory to last a lifetime or two.
I had at least three "encounters" with Dick Van Dyke before I got to know him well enough that I could expect him to recall my name. All of those encounters were joyous exceptions to the advice that you should never meet your heroes.
I hope he has a wonderful day with his terrific wife Arlene. And I hope he's around long enough that we can look back and think of 96 as when he was middle-aged.