BS: Gifts Of Ageing

Subject: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 04:50 PM

Mudcat has a lot of "Mature" members. Me being one of them. I think of myself as a high-mileage model. And as we get more mileage on us, we end up in the garage for increasingly major repairs more often. It's easy enough to see what is lost as we age. But with all that is lost, much is gained. Everyone has their own take on the trade-off of ageing. It's easier to be positive, if you keep your health and a semblance of your vitality. But, it's not impossible to be positive, even if you've lost far more than most of us have. My wife and I visit a woman with MS who in recent years has been reduced to lying in bed in a room converted into a bedroom, in her garage. She has lost all use of her hands, to the point where she can't even operate the TV remote. Her sister takes care of her, and in the last year has had major surgery for cancer, and most recently came very close to dying with a major heart attack. Yet, when we visit them, they are some of the most upbeat, thankful people we know.

So, where is the good in ageing? I see a lot of it. I look at teenagers, facing a violent world where it is increasingly difficult to make a decent living without a far higher education than they are ever going to get. And I am thankful that I am not facing such uncertainty. As I get older, I see more that we all have in common, and enjoy people I might have felt no connection to thirty years ago.
As you age, you can hopefully take pleasure in smaller pleasures... the sun breaking through the clouds on the horizon, or the frost on the lawn in the morning. Life gets simpler.

Anyone on here enjoying new pleasures that go with ageing?

Older and enjoying life more...

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 04:52 PM

Well, I can order from the Senior Menu now. And sometimes at a lower price.

And nobody has yet dared to call me "Pops" or anything similar.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Wesley S
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 04:56 PM

I'm slightly more patient than I used to be. That comes in handy.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Scoville
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:00 PM

Well, as my father often says--it's better than the alternative.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:04 PM

Free Bus Pass

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: number 6
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:07 PM

You can be grumpy.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Peace
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:08 PM

or doc, or sneezy or bashful or . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:09 PM

More patience and understanding and a lot slower to anger. I don't choose as many fights as I used to; it's easier to just walk away. I'd give anything for this wisdom when I was younger, but then I would have been older then than now.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:14 PM

Well, to be perfectly frank about it...I'd rather be young again.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:17 PM

Mind you, I am not admitting to anything. I still get called "Kid" by some around these parts.**bg**

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: NH Dave
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:31 PM

I find that as I have frequently made every mistake that it is possible to make, I have this backlog of experience that makes me more cautious about jumping into new situations, and have time for more of the fun stuff. As the old joke goes, when the learner asks the guru how he gained the ability to make good decisions he was told, "Wisdom." When he asked how the guru had gained this wisdom he was told, "Bad decisions."

Of course the fact that I have had formal training in OSHA, for our friends from away, the US Government program mandating better safety practices in the work place; management, accounting, psychology, and computer technology, and have worked as a safety technician, maintenance manager, and comptroller have exposed me to skills and practices that have to have made me a better personal manager, less apt to jump rashly into situations that I now have the ability to recognize have the potential to turn ugly in a quick hurry. This means that when I learn around the water cooler that the major department heads of a small but rapidly growing electronics company have decided it is fun to all pile into a convertible and drive down country roads at excessive speed, with separate individuals manipulating the brakes, clutch, shift, and accelerator, while the owner sits on the back of the front seat, steers with her feet, and directs the efforts of the others who are well down below the dashboard level; I can recognize the crippling loss to the company when they have their inevitable accident, so have a quiet word to the company's two owners, themselves heavy duty party people, too.

And the really odd thing is that I received most of this formal and practical education over 26 years in the US military, mostly Air Force, not one of those high potential job opportunities out there, especially back during and after Viet Nam. This time taught me that I really didn't have to make the same mistake again, if I could only remember the consequences of the first time, and that if I perused the reports of how others made unfortunate choices, I could learn from their often fatal choices, and not have to experience that situation to learn from it.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Slag
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:52 PM

I wrote a poem once in college about getting old. I was 26, 27 at the time and was an "Old Man" on the campus. I was duly lauded for my aged wisdom and experience by the 19 and 20 year olds. And, it almost sounded like I knew what I was talking about! I must have been destined to be a great writer of fiction. If I could reach out across the years and smack myself up side of the head and tell myself to shut-up, I would.

Ok, OK, I know! Some of you would like me to do that right now, but I ain't a gonna! Don't have to 'cause I'm old, retired and set in my ways, so there!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:54 PM

I read once that the secret to a happy old age is a bad memory. I'm working on it. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Peace
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:58 PM

What's memory?

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 06:26 PM

You always were ahead of me, Peace. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Peace
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 06:27 PM

I seriously doubt I have ever been ahead of you in anything except bad manners. Hope you had a great X-mas, Ebbie.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Peace
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 06:38 PM

That sounded like crap. To clarify, you have always been a lady of grace and eloquence, and never once have you even come near displaying bad manners. At all. That is what I meant in that poorly-worded sentence.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 06:45 PM

I would not be a day younger than I am but I do look with wonder and envy on young people graduating from high school and college. They have all those years of living and learning ahead of them. And their world is full of possibilities that didn't exist in my youth. What I would give for the chance to travel in space, visit the moon or Mars, see the world a hundred years from now knowing that I still have a hundred years ahead of me.
Life is a wonderful gift.
Age enables me to appreciate its possibilities.
Old age (it will never happen) makes it possible for me to get with away with all sorts of foolishness and still maintain my dignity.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Janie
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 08:00 PM

The person I am now is not that much different from the person I was 20, or even 30 years ago, but I like myself a lot more now, am much more comfortable in my own skin. One of the processes of maturation is, I think, a gradual shifting from self-consciousness to self awareness and insight.

I love and value my friends and family more for who they are as opposed to valuing them because I think they might meet my needs. While I have a stronger sense of responsibility to my family, community and the world, I don't tend to experience responsibility as being as burdensome as I did when I was younger. I am more likely to take ownership for my own thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and am much less likely to assume ownership of the same in others. I now 'get' the Serenity Prayer and so am sometimes bestowed with the gift of serenity.

I have always tended to prefer substance over form, but I am much less likely to confuse the two.

I know that life wasn't meant to be easy, it was meant to be life. Much of what I once thought was due me, I now view as acts of grace or blessings.

I am no longer completely startled when I realize the world doesn't revolve around my belly button.

But it still makes me mad that arthritis is already effecting what I can do.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 08:04 PM

Beautiful response, Janie..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 08:24 PM

About 30 years ago, I realized that I'd gotten about as good as I was ever going to get. What a relief! My Father always doubted that I'd ever amount to something. He was wrong. I am something.
Maybe not what everybody thought I should amount to. But, I can deal with that...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 08:40 PM

I spent time this week with a woman nearing her 80th birthday. She was widowed three years ago, but long years of a happy marriage have softened the blow of her husband passing, she is philospohical enough to know how 'lucky' she was to have been with him so long.

She had a heap of Christmas cards on the mantlepiece and every available shelf space, from all over the world, from old friends who have retired and moved back to their countries of birth and young emigrated relatives who have stretched their wings to the other side of the world. She had hand made cards with crayoned drawings of the nativity from grandchildren pinned to the wall.

She really isn't one to dwell on herself and I wasn't expecting the tears. But they came. A combination of a heart complaint and arthritis have scuppered her future plans to travel. And she loved to travel. Her friends one by one are either dying or failing in health. She knows she will never see the ones who are retired and abroad again. She knows she won't see her grandchildren get wed and hold their babies. She said she always knew she 'would get old', but never fully believed it would stop her from doing 'things'.

The saddest part for her was that old age meant losing loved ones, whether through death or distance. Sure there are letters and phone calls and photos, but they don't replace a hug from those who meant the most to her.

She rounded off the conversation by counting her blessings almost as though she was embarrassed by her own fallibility.

Old age is inevitable if we are fortunate enough to experience it. But it is also tinged with sadness.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: JennieG
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 08:42 PM

The worst part is.......

I am starting to loook like my mother!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 09:00 PM

When I was only 50, and again at 55, I celebrated my birthday by standing on my head while jealous 'younger' ones recited, "You are old, Father William"

but the doc (and my wife) won't let me do that any more.

One thing I have done in the last 10-15 years is 'focus' on who I really am and what I really think. I believe it is rare for someone to gain enough perspective before 30 to really make the most important decisions,....though they may make some that work out just fine. This world is very, very complicated today....I don't envy the young trying to make sense of it and plot a sane path.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 09:01 PM

In your case, JennieG, it looks good!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Peace
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 09:15 PM

"The worst part is.......

I am starting to loook like my mother!"

So am I. You think YOU got problems . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 12:31 AM

Sit down, GG. You're getting overwrought.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST,Bruce Michael Baillie
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 12:53 AM

...Cheaper car insurance for one thing, I'm always horrified when I talk to young blokes at work who are paying £800+ per year for car insurance, Mine is approx. £250pa fully comprehensive.

...Still having all my own hair in early fifties, though that's more of a gift of good genetics, my dad is 87 and still has most of his hair! (strangely both his younger brothers are bald as coots?)

...Being generally more worldly wise and not taking people at face value as much as I used to.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: dianavan
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 01:04 AM

The gift of ageing is being able to appreciate all that has been given to me in this life.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Slag
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 01:32 AM

Yes SINSULL, Life is twice as good as any other alternative.

Bill D, no one under 30 (40?) should be allowed to vote?!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 08:07 AM

Hey, Bill: As you expressed. one of the greatest gifts of ageing is humility. People think of being humble as being shuffle-footed, and self-effacing. That's not the true meaning of humility. Humility is accepting yourself for who you are with complete honesty. (Or as complete as we ever get.) That means accepting your strengths, your talents and your gifts, as well as you weaknesses and failings. Accepting your failings means that you don't spend a lot of time denying your life, or making excuses for what you've done. It also mean that you're more likely to avoid making the same mistakes, if you faced them honestly. Accepting responsibility for your talents and gifts means that you use each day as wisely as you can. As the clock winds down on your life, each day becomes more valuable, and you want to use it in service or pleasure. Service is one of the best sources of pleasure. I see all of this reflected in your posts, over the years.

Good on you.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 08:34 AM

Humility? I'm so proud of being humble. It's one of my greatest qualities, my pride in my humility.

I guess that I've also learned to try to find the core, the essence, of things and ignore the flash and latest greatest hype idea. For instance, professionally I've been through TQM, Excellence, MBO, Sigma Six, Seven Habits, Peter Principle and only the old the gods know what else -- I've kinda reduced it to "getting people and information together" (or better yet, Ranganathan's Laws and you can look 'em up for yourself, you want me to do EVERYTHING for you? At MY age?).

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 10:02 AM

", no one under 30 (40?) should be allowed to vote?!"

well...*grin*...that's a pretty interesting idea, but it depends on whether you think that voting is much of an 'important' decision these days!
   Since 'some' under 30 can be rational, and have studied the issues, maybe a 'test' would be better? "Please write an essay in 1000 words, explaining the positions of the candidates." ..."Uhhh...write?"

('Some' under 18-21 could be trusted to drink)

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 12:20 PM

The number of songs I've learned. There are 165 pieces on my dulcimer list.

I feel lucky to have lived my life when I have. Today's young people are getting a world when Iran and Korea have nuclear weapons. Can those people be trusted with them? I fear not. (Not that anybody can REALLY be trusted with them.)

At a more minor level, I feel sorry for young women today. Look at the pictures of starlets, etc on the media. Cheap-looking, supposedly-sexy clothes, messy hair...the message is "you are of no real importance as a person."

This summer I went to a birthday party for a little girl, and there was a guest about 18 years old who was wearing low-slung jeans. She squatted on the grass to watch the opening of presents and didn't realize that when she leaned forward, about 3 inches of posterior cleavage was exposed. How foolish! I noticed that the men in this nice family group kept moving away from her.

Haven't girls today got any real friends?

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Amos
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 12:20 PM

1. Every Rapaire his quip.
2. Every quip its Rapaire.
3. Spare Rapaire's readers.
4. Quips are for use. Rapaire is of disuse.
5. Rapaire is a growing organism.

These are Rapaire's personal version of Ragnathan's Five Laws, which founded Library science in India.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: jeffp
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 12:44 PM

I think a large part of maturity and humility is the realization and acceptance of the fact that the sun does not shine out of one's ass after all. And that sometimes other's ideas and feelings can be more important than one's own.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST, heric
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 01:29 PM

I suppose the pressure's off with the plainness that someday ain't likely to get here.

The Zen can float right in like mist off the ocean.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Bert
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 01:46 PM

As I'm the oldest one, everybody else in the family thinks that I can do anything.

"Bert - install this light fixture"
"Bert - make some shortbread"
"Bert - Carve the turkey"
"Bert - Fix my DVD drive"
"Bert - my computer is playing up"
"Bert - fix the leak under the sink"
"Bert - find a recipe for this bread machine"

Just wish I could get the respect that is due to one with so much knowledge.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 05:27 PM

Bill - yes, some 18 - 21 year olds can be trusted to drink. The energy and time that goes into stopping them (or trying to stop them) seems insane to me.......; they ARE old enough to die for their country, are they not????? I can't think the occasional beer would be THAT bad for them........

I wouldn't choose to turn the clock back - I find myself calmer, kinder, gentler and generally more satisfied with life - most of the time. One of the nicest things about being older is being the parent of young adults as opposed to toddlers, or teenagers......; so nice to have your children visit and enjoy their company without all the extraneous 'issues' that used to be there.......

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 06:14 PM

Well, seriously, I find that I'd like to share what little I've actually learned in my 6+ decades. I am also quite certain that no one would pay any attention.

Like the old cowboy said, "About 2% of the people will read about something, cogitate on it, and learn from it. Another 3% will make a mistake and learn from it. The rest of us jist keep pissin' in our boots."

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 06:57 PM

Yeh Rapaire - I'm with you!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Joe_F
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 09:18 PM

-- And always remember, the longer you live,
The sooner you bloody well die.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:32 AM

I'm beginning to look like my Mother too, but that's genetics for you.
However I sometimes find myself SOUNDING like my Mother.
Now that's really scary!

Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST,gleaner
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 03:52 PM

It's now reported that a significant amount of neural development is not functional until one is into one's twenties. I believe it, looking back at myself as well as at others.

Most people have scant idea of what it is like to live in advanced age. We need to be around persons of advanced age for long periods of time to begin to sense what their respective thoughts and experiences are. I think that if I had life to do again, knowing what I know now, I'd keep centrally in mind the prospect of those around me, and even myself, living approximately seven to ten decades while being a person.

In the US, I thought that more changes in medical care and living arrangements would occur as the parents of baby boomers reached advanced age. Now it appears that we baby boomers ourselves will have to be entering advanced age for political pressures to become great enough to produce changes. How tragic.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:38 PM

I've been spending the last couple days with my MIL, in her place in a retirement community. And I've been thinking about what happens when the '60s crowd arrives (I'm eligible to move in here in February!)....

"Security! Hairy Man is running naked down the halls again, yelling that he's a giant chocolate chip!"

"Hey hey hey, that's ain't home cookin' I smell!!!"

"Security, would you PLEASE tell T-02 that if he plays 'Ana gadda gavida' one more time I'm gonna ram my powered chair into his walker?"

"Wadda ya mean? I'm a member of the Garden Club and I'll grow what I damned well please!"

"Listen, you either stop serving chili mac every f@##$g day or we'll seize the cafeteria! And your security pigs won't break us, either, 'cause we ain't afraid of your tear gas and clubs!"

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Don Firth
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:43 PM

It's an old saw, but "It's too bad youth is wasted on the young." Yea, verily!!

'Twould indeed be nice to be as strong and vigorous as I used to be (not that I'm totally enfeebled now). But there are a lot of advantages to having some mileage on the clock. For example, when I first got into folk music I was pretty young. I learned a lot of songs fairly fast. Now that I've attained the exalted (even if somewhat humbling) state of geezerhood, I actually understand what most of the songs are all about.

I never did think the sun shone out of my ass. I had two sisters, one older and one younger, to assure me that wasn't the case.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST,gleaner
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:14 PM

I am attempting the transition from a caretaking situation, my father having died at 96, and my mother, 85, having recently moved into an assisted living home, in large part due to my almost having been done in by a nonprescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).

I get cheered, moved, and humbled by the smiles and greetings, the expressions of interest, and the encouragement I get from persons with more mileage than I. They often have several physical ailments.

I detest the adage, You can't teach old dogs new tricks.

Indeed, if some of us make it to a senior community, the story circles could get strange. "Now which identity were you into at the time?"

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Amos
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 05:16 PM

From a friend:

    George Carlin on age.



" Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.


'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key


You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.


'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . Youbecome 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?


You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.
But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60 You didn't think you would!


So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.


You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!


You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'


Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'


2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.


3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.


5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.


7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.


9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.


10.Tell the people you love that you love them , at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,but by the moments that take our breath away."

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 06:28 PM

Enjoy each day as it comes to you and thank God that you are still here to enjoy it. Until 1991 I was living the high life...earning good money and spending it on drink, cigarettes, women, gambling...and boy did I think i had it all????????
It was not until I became a born again Christian that I knew what living was all about.....now I know I am going to come in for the usual mudcat criticism here but I speak the truth...always...and being a Christian aint all that bad! You all have your own choices so pick your path...I just so enjoy mine I want to share it!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 07:56 AM

Free bus pass.

Free medical prescriptions.

Half price into gigs.

The fact that I am now comfortable in my own skin, and don't have to prove anything to anyone - especially me.

The fact that I can't be bought, can't be bribed, and can't be frightened or threatened by anyone.

The greatest gift, though - the company of the love of my life, and of the grandsons, my daughter, and son-in-law.

I would't change places with anyone, and I wouldn't call the Queen me auntie.

To all : Joy, Health, Love and Peace.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: GUEST,Hard 8 :: ::
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 09:15 AM

Sex is phenominal, nuclear.

I believe it has more to do with her than with me, but it has gone from small (kiloton-level, or maybe lightning bolt) explosions when younger to massive megaton detonations (think, "Bikini Atoll", or "Changshen eathquake") now that I am older.

:: ::

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 09:21 AM

The good days are clearly evident.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: theleveller
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 09:21 AM

A couple of years ago I started the Growing Old Disgracefully Society (GODS). So, if you think worshipping other gods is a waste of time, become one of the GODS yourself. All you have to do is be over 50 and do what the name says. You don't know how long you've got left, so make sure you enjoy every minute. Just remember, this is as good as it gets!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 04:43 PM

I 'd love to have this mind in my 22 year old body. I'm slightly less stupid about the world now, but don't get out of a low chair so well.

Oh, I don't really mind getting older, cept for the part where I pass a mirror and think: Who the hell is that?

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 05:40 PM

"Just because there's snow on the roof, it doesn't mean the fire's out in the hearth."

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 07:12 PM

Yes it does, Bill unless Viagra is added into the equation.

I really do not like to see the wrinkles in my neck and the drab grey my hair is turning but both are a small price to pay for the peace of mind I have at 60.
I watch the young ones at work trying to ACHIEVE(!), trying to impress, trying to save for a house and a wedding and.... I watch young parents agonizing over the cost of colleges.
That is all behind me. My life is simple, my needs are few and my expenses can be handled if I am careful. But best of all I wake up in the morning and I am happy and safe and content. And for the most part, my friends and loved ones are too.

Life is very good. My life is much better than it was when I was 5, 10, 20, 30 or even 50.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 08:30 PM

ObSongs:

I have led a good life, full of peace and quiet.
I shall have an old age full of rum and riot.
I have been a good boy, wed to peace and study.
I shall have an old age ribald, coarse, and bloody.

I have never cut throats, tho I often yearned to,
Never sung the dirty songs that my fancy turned to.
I have been a good boy and done what was expected.
I shall be an old bum, loved but unrespected.

Sung by Carl Sandburg.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 09:02 PM

Recent research (probably by Starbucks) stated that coffee seems to counter Alzheimer dementia or at least improves memory. Ati oxodent claims were also made.

pancreatic cancer links be damned I WANT MY COFFEE>

COFFEE
yeah it makes me write things here that are cringe worthy but what the hell, I've been brain damaged my whole life. Every major neuron bridge to access proper names is out...only one ferry remains but the captain is out having coffee.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: theleveller
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 03:31 AM

Probably the best gift was at the age of 51 - my daughter, Holly, now 8.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 02:03 PM

I was taught to respect my elders but it's getting harder and harder to find any...

Enjoy the day, breathe in, breathe out!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 03:55 PM

LTS-
re breathing in and out....the trick is making the numbers equal.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: theleveller
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 03:30 AM

They say you're getting old when you comment on how young policemen are, these days. Imagine how I feel - my son's one (and he has two kids of his own). He still managed to get a speeding fine the other week, though (I didn't laugh - much!).

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:25 AM

Hearing my 8 year old wake up in the morning saying that he wished we had a time amchine.

I wish we did too.


Time, The darn stuff is, talsteless oderless and invisible in the short run.
Love it, Fight it, slow it down, stretch it out, hurry it along, it always gets the last word.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:45 AM

I saw a good quote this morning:

"Setting a good example for the children takes all the fun out of middle age."

The good thing about "late middle age" (which is the period from 50 to 100) is that the kids are out and you don't have to.

I feel sort of sorry for people who had their kids late in life. (If you feel your life is empty without something around to love, you can get cats. No one ever tried to set a good example for a cat. It would just confuse them.)

P.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:48 AM

The truth is we DNA beings are nature's time machine. We go against the grain of time from one generation to the next from one epoch to another.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: theleveller
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 08:47 AM

And, of course, you're only as old as the woman/man you feel!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 09:28 AM

I have a time machine.
I get in it in one place and end up getting out of it at another place...or the same place at a different time.

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 09:28 AM

My car by the way!

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:22 PM

If we continue to get nostalgic about things that are more and more recent, pretty soon we will be forced to live in the present!

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Gifts Of Ageing
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:29 PM

Jerry,

I have learned to try to make the most off all that comes, and the least of all that goes!

Once in a while,
I can do that.

Art