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Approaching the peak with help from my friends...
I am about to put this Old Blog to rest. I called it When I'm 64 because I was and I started it to document the final year before I turned Officially Old.
It was a lot of fun, but as the end neared, I ran out of words and got caught up in a bunch of other things called Life that seemed to storm around me until just now.
What I've learned:
No one seems to know what Officially Old is anymore. I had more queries about that than anything else. For the record: 65 is the government number picked out of a fedora eons ago to define when citizens should stop work and start enjoying the fruits of their labors. It reigned until some folks took it to court because medical breakthroughs meant they were in better health and didn't want to stop working. They won and Officially Old has been under attack since. I have it on somewhat good authority that my kids won't get their Just Rewards until their 70s and beyond.
Government bureaucracy gets thicker as you get older. Still haven't managed to get all those promised payments coming to me, have to certify photocopies of this and apply for true copies of that and certify checks to pay for the other application to get the paper to send with this application...not to mention all the new sites I have to join, and if I make a mistake in typing I must live with it because government sites are rigidly against mistakes and don't allow do-overs. Sigh.
Alas, I have a finite pile of savings and infinite lifespan. Those two facts cause stress that could shorten the second and have no effect on the first.
While being Officially Old means I can relax and legitimately claim aches and pains and dimer eyes, reduced hearing, distracted thoughts and less staying power, I find that I am expected to keep up without whining or I won't get invited to take part. I spent my birthday climbing a steep mountain called Ha Ling that locals run up and down with their dogs several times a season. I had four faithful with me, my son, his wife, one and one old friend. We took five hours. In snow, sleet, hail, sun and whiteout. Angel food cake with berries on top, a quick Happy Birthday to you! and down in dense cloud with the leader hoping she wasn't leading us off a cliff.
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| Josh is calling Jade to tell him Mom has almost made it... |
Thought that the climb was a really outstanding way to become Officially Old, but since then have done a couple of more mountains of equal or twice the difficulty with no concessions given to my age. Hummmm.
I find paperwork (a word headed for obsolescence?) overwhelming these days. Possibly because of the aforementioned bureaucracy, but it seems I am always at the computer doing something when I would love to be outdoors doing something else. My dilemma is making keeping my body active equal to my accounts and work done. Sometimes I manage to feel grateful I have all these choices I love to do vying for my time. Not paperwork, but painting, or working with photos or writing poems...or hiking or tennis or snowshoeing.
Technology is forcing me to become logical...sigh. If I don't get my photos organized so I can find what I want quickly, I waste time looking...sigh. On the plus side: they say using your brain to learn new things keeps you young (or builds neural connections, nearly the same thing, I think). But I don't have to like it.
Oddly, while feeling beset by stuff, I have more time to consider friends & family and what I can do for them; remember what things are happening in their lives and ask about them; be kinder and hopefully gentler. Which is a very good thing because I got a good dose of hardheadedness from my dad that wins me no votes for nice guy of the year.
Anyway, now that I qualify to check the Senior box, it's time to close When I'm 64 and move on to two other blogs. I hope you will join me, I need all the friends I can get!
Now to figure out what I can do for my next birthday event...
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| Angel food cake with berries and Happy Birthday to You in the snow on top. |
They are:
In the Moment Photography: go to http://tonisueowen.blogspot.com/
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