When I rounded an aisle at Walmart, nearly colliding with a man\u2019s overflowing cart, I heard, \u201cDad, you almost ran over that little old lady.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not old,\u201d I objected, laughing good-naturedly. But later, I thought about the girl\u2019s comment. I\u2019m seventy-five, full of energy and ambition. Although I\u2019m no longer considered \u201cmiddle-aged,\u201d I\u2019m much too young to be old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we reach sixty-five, we\u2019re often lumped into the \u201celderly\u201d category. The word is outdated in most circles, but some newspaper writers haven\u2019t gotten the message. I read, \u201cAn elderly woman lost control of her car and ended up in a ditch on Capital Avenue.\u201d Later the article said she was sixty years old. Elderly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to developmental psychologists, there are stages of old age just as there are stages of childhood. One source says the young-old are between fifty-five and sixty-five years of age. Middle-oldsters are sixty-six to eighty-five, and the old-old are those over eighty-five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gerontologists can label us young-old, middle-old, or old-old, but they cannot assign expectations to our ages. Some fifty-year-olds are sedentary, some eighty-year-olds still mow their lawns. Whatever our age, whatever our physical challenge, we can continue to live well and enjoy our lives (Yes, Virginia, there is life beyond middle age\u2013and Santa too.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While laugh lines decorate my formerly flawless complexion, and arthritis symptoms flare up when I over-exert, I continue to live fully. I enjoy hanging out with my friends, my adult children, and my pseudo-adult grandchildren. I\u2019m comfortable with the routines my husband and I established long ago. I look forward to going to work at the part-time job to which I returned after retiring at a \u201cnormal\u201d retirement age. I\u2019m also pursuing my lifelong dream of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a responsibility to future generations to live enthusiastically, with a \u201cglass half full\u201d not a \u201cglass half empty\u201d attitude. It\u2019s not always easy to remain positive, of course. As we traverse the path of senior-hood, we encounter some bumpy terrain. But like other life stages, we will discover how to do-aging by doing it. And maybe we can help others along the way by sharing what we learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A dear friend, who recently passed away at one hundred and four, taught me about aging well. The week before she passed, Margie told me she was ready to leave this world, \u201cWhenever the good Lord is ready to take me.\u201d She added, \u201cIn the meantime, as long as I\u2019m here, I\u2019m going to keep on laughing and learning and loving.\u201d And that\u2019s just what she did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone once observed, \u201cOld is twenty years older than me.\u201d When we were twenty, we thought fifty was old. Fifty-year-olds might consider seventy-five to be old. Margie thought I was a mere youngster. I asked the seniors in my weekly positive thinking group, \u201cWhen does old age begin?\u201d Most believed you are old when you reached ninety-five. Sally added, \u201cIt depends on attitude\u2013how you see yourself.\u201d Everyone nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I see myself as being in the adolescent stage of old. I\u2019m a bit rebellious about conforming to standard age-related behavior, and I\u2019m busy living life, making mistakes, but doing things my way (like Frank Sinatra once sang). I\u2019m still dreaming and planning for my future, a future filled with laughter, learning, and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, I\u2019m not yet a \u201clittle old lady.\u201d I\u2019ll let you know when I\u2019m ready for the title\u2013possibly in another twenty years.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I rounded an aisle at Walmart, nearly colliding with a man\u2019s overflowing cart, I heard, \u201cDad, you almost ran over that little old lady.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not old,\u201d I objected, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[46],"essay-category":[],"class_list":["post-20833","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","essay_type-features"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/20833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/20833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=20833"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=20833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}