Past 64 and No Longer Counting

Rappel course leads to full scale canyoneering. Can't wait!

OK, I started this when I was looking at Official Old Age from below.

Looking at it from above is an entirely different matter in many many ways.

I was in a safe, sensible, small Canadian community. I hiked mountains, played tennis and pickleball, snowshoed, exhibited photos in art shows, sang, drummed, did balloons and face painted and most precious of all, had the WGG (World's Greatest Granddaughter) on sleepovers where we learned to navigate steep and/or icy trails without slipping (taking small steps),  climb and swing in all the playground parks, take discovery walks, read books, eat ice cream  and share cinnamon buns.We were just getting into liking the same movies when I left.

I could have felt safe and secure: I had universal health care and government pensions, for Pete's sake. Instead I felt increasingly closed into being over 64. Amazing, but there it was.

So I moved away. About as far away from a tiny Rocky Mountain Canadian town as I could get...to Los Angeles.

Where I rappel and hike, and sing and dance and do things like moonlight kayaking and tide pooling with mixed groups of like-minded folks via the best use of the Net since emails: meetups.

Meetup.com is global, and growing. Its time has definitely come. I actually joined in Canada, but didn't use it much in a small town where you pretty much know somebody who knows somebody for any crazy activity you care to do.

Newport Harbor for the June super moon.

LA has almost half as many people as Canada, the country. Meeting folks is hard to do and not advisable where you spend a lot of your time: on the famed freeways. Meetups connect tennis partners. Hikers. Photographers. Kayakers (or pub crawlers, art appreciation groups, movie fans, do gooders, adventurers, volunteers...there is a saying that if you love to knit but only have an hour from 10 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays to do it, you can find a Meetup for that). Nobody cares if I'm looking at 64 from above or below, they just care if I can keep up. And if I can't, I find another meetup where I can. I've flashed-mobbed at a major studio, climbed the hidden stairs of LA, tide pooled, hiked Joshua Tree...and I'm pretty much a rookie.

This move was my hardest yet, not just leaving the WGG and the length of time I was alone on the road down, but in terms of leaving lots behind and starting over here. Meetups mean I won't spend the first year or two doing everything alone. You may meet soul mates on meetups, but mostly you just enjoy the time you're together in company. You may see them again on another meetup, or you may not. Doesn't matter, you will meet more lovely, like-minded folks at the next one. Those who aren't lovely or like-minded can get their names stricken off lists by those who organize the events.

So I rappelled. Fifty-five feet down a sheer cliff in the hot sun. It was scary. The other lovely, like-minded folks were scared and brave to varying degrees, too, but we all made it down. Went off to have pizza and a cold beer and some laughs, then home. If I need a 4 mile walk, I can sandwalk on Monday evenings on the beach. Or speedwalk a 4-mile trail through an ecological reserve early on Saturday mornings and have the rest of the day to get things done.

I'm hooked. What a grand idea. The Net bringing folks together in real time. Love it.