No, not quite that old!
We were watching a movie yesterday when the phone rang. Only because we get so many of them every single day, at any hour of the day, I expected it to be yet another in an infinite series of robo-calls. “This is your final notice,” blah-blah-blah. “Final” as in ten thousandth time, with ten thousand more to come.
I was taken aback when it turned out to be a human being. She introduced herself, said she was part of a volunteer campaign here in town to check up on people, and how were we doing? This had me totally stumped.
Oh, wait! Suddenly I realized–I had forgotten we were senior citizens! Good grief, when did that happen? I’m so glad I figured out what was going on here before I could bite this woman’s head off. She meant well. And I’m glad I didn’t ask her to have anything done for us, because we don’t really need it while other people do.
This is a very strange time to be living through. It feels unreal. Who knows what to believe? What kind of weird resolution are we headed for?
Anyway, it annoyed me for a moment, but now I’m glad that someone’s doing it–calling people up to make sure they’re all right.
I’ll try to remember that I’m old.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. I stopped worrying about the things I can’t change because there wasn’t enough time left. People began giving me their seats on the bus. I applied for early retirement. And that’s when I finally had the time to read the bible, really think about God, and was “born again.” Phew – I just made it – lol.
I didn’t mean to suggest it was a bad thing; but I find it a surprising thing. It sort of just snuck up on me.
Yes, I understand. I had gone to sleep on a Friday night believing I was still young and woke up Saturday morning suddenly a lot older. I was shocked, at first. Where’d the time go? I wasn’t finished. Finished what just didn’t matter anymore and it was nice to settle down – lol. Time was always in front of me; now it was behind me and I actually felt relieved – I was out of the race and at my own pace.
I seem to be working harder than ever, these days. *sigh*
May I assume – but you need less?
Assume anything you like–I trust you implicitly.
I didn’t fully realize how ambitious you really still are. It’s all those talents you have that keep you working harder. Guess it will take longer for you to enjoy just being, despite those calming articles you post for our sake. I apologize for projecting – I think – lol.
“Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.” –Shakespear
I miss my young body that didn’t let me down when I had strenuous physical activity to accomplish.
I keep being surprised at the fact that I’m old. I keep telling people my age (78) and laughingly refer to myself as an old lady — “hey, 78 isn’t even middle aged any more” and “don’t knock it; it took me a long time to get here” — but something inside my head keeps thinking I’m still 33. Then my body says, “Guess again.” 🙂
All these precautions being “recommended” because of the covid-19 are to protect the elderly, anyone over 60. Yippie, we qualify! How wonderful our gov’t cares so much about us to shut down the whole country and ruin our recent economic comeback.
Yes, and they care so much about us that they’ve destroyed all our social networks — church or synagogue, neighborhood, friends-for-lunch, etc. — by isolating us so we can’t get the help we’d normally have if we need it.
If you ask me, we already had too much distancing going into this mess.
I don’t desire any special treatment. I see a lot of people 20-30 years my junior who are unfit and appear to be in poor health. For that matter, I am much healthier than I was in my ‘30s or ‘40s. So I don’t like being treated as if I were made of eggshells and prefer to be treated like anyone else.
I think the worst was when I had minor surgery and the admitting nurse drilled me about whether I was abused in my home. I cleared my throat and told her I lived alone and that my cat had inadvertently scratched me, if they wanted to pursue that. Then I explained that I was done answering stupid questions and that I was perfectly capable of asking for assistance any time I needed it. End of subject.
My father once lost track of his towel and wallet on a busy, crowded beach and called the police for help. They assumed he was senile. That really cheesed off my mother.