Bret Michaels at 60: “I Am Like A True Muscle Car.”

Bret Michaels of Poison turns 60 today (March 15), and he is fulling embracing the milestone with gratitude.

“I am grateful to be on this crazy roller coaster ride and to be here with some of my good decisions and some of my less-than-reputable decisions,” the Poison frontman told USA Today when asked if he’s bummed about turning 60. “But I’ve got to be honest. When people ask I say, No. 1, what is my alternative? The alternative is not good. And two, I get no choice in the matter. My choice will be how I deal with it.” 

Michaels–a type 1 diabetic–has suffered his share of health scares, from a brain hemorrhage in 2010, heart and kidney surgery and an episode last summer that forced him to miss performing a show in Nashville on the Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and Joan Jett.

“I am like a true muscle car – still fast, still fun to ride, but I just need a little more maintenance.”

He adds, “No one says, ‘Man, I want to be old.’ I feel blessed that I got to get old because I know so many of my friends never got the chance. I live also for them.”