The worst part of getting old

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

My parents, brother and sister are all dead. The only family member I care about on that end is my nephew, who is in his 60s. At age 78 (in May), I have arthritic pains, but we are lucky not to be suffering with serious illness at this point. We have friends living elsewhere who seem well enough. My remaining kids are healthy, as are my wife’s nieces, although except for one sister who has dementia, her immediate family members have all died.

We live in a 55+ community, but don’t have close friends here, or even anyone we hang with. That’s deliberate, I think. We have little in common with nearly all of them. We exchange pleasantries in passing, but that’s it.

So the worst part at this point for me is the arthritis pains. I’m guessing that at some point something more serious will come along and lay one or both of us out, but hopefully that’s in the far future.

22

My mom is 74. She has mobility issues so it keeps her from being as active as she’d like to be.

The worst part about this stage in her life is that her two best friends, that she’s known since childhood, have died. They weren’t there for her when my dad died. They’re not there now when she needs them the most.

I absolutely hate this for her. I hate it for you, too.

23

I am 67. All of my immediate family and many of my large extended family are dead. Many friends have also died. It’s been a constant flow all my life.

My first solo funeral visit on my own was at age 6 when the local candy store man died.

I was on my way home from first grade and stopped in the funeral home in my little red boots, set my book-bag by the door, signed the book, took a funeral card and paid my respects at the casket. I must have been to a lot of funerals before that to know the etiquette so well at that age :rofl:

I like to say that I probably know more dead people than living ones at this point.

But every death no matter how many you have endured always hits you emotionally and in ways you can’t predict.

Godspeed to you and those you loved.

24

Great photos @Qadgop_the_Mercotan . Likewise my wife and I have complementary abilities.

She’s very good at organizing and planning trips, and she likes doing that so ‘Have at it honey’.

I’m a computer guy, so I get to take care of those.

My wife likes to drive, we always take her car when we go somewhere.

I like to cook and meal plan.

I could go on, and on.

25

I think it was Carl Reiner who said “When I get up in the morning and read the obits, if my name isn’t there, it’s a good day.”

I had a year, about 5 or 6 years ago, when about a dozen people I knew died. Some were older, some were younger, and some were my age. Shortly before that, I had cancer surgery. (Thankfully, it was caught just in time, otherwise I wouldn’t be here now.)

I worked at a radio station in 1974, for one year. We were all relative contemporaries. Almost everyone I knew there is now dead from heart attacks, cancer, even suicide. It ran the gamut.

We both have our ailments, but so far we’ve been luckier than many folks our age. This year has been difficult due to circumstances beyond our control, and I can’t help feeling it’s going to get a lot worse.

But on the plus side, at least we’re still perpendicular.

26

How terribly strange to be 70 - (Simon and Garfunkel)

The contrasts in this video are touching:
–The young singing lyrics about the elderly.
–And the even younger crowd cheering them on, with the enthusiasm which only they can muster, and believe will never fade..

“Preserve your memories…They’re all that’s left you”

27

I’m close to 66 (in a month) and I’m seeing dead friends and acquaintances as well (not in the “Sixth Sense” way :slightly_smiling_face:) online. And that sucks.

For me the salient thing is that I was diagnosed Level 1 ASD a year and a half ago. I’m high functioning enough that I made it this far that I have no real worries either materially or financially. On the other hand, thanks to my then-unknown autism, saying and doing things that were sufficiently stupid, and occasionally toxic, that I’ve successfully alienated a shitload of people who could have been good friends now. Sadly, some of those people have died over the last few years without me knowing until recently (I only started on Facebook about six months ago), or some I simply can’t find at all.

I, and one of my sisters, have been blessed with awesome genes - she’s 80 and in all respects, except some more wrinkles on her face, she could pass for 60. And I still do a lot of bicycling, albeit slower than 20 years ago (here’s a pic of me in Google Streetview riding down Cote de Liesse service road in Montreal in 2021 Google Maps).

This is certainly my take, in a number of respects. I’m fairly fit now but I fully realize that, in just one day, or overnight, that could go out the window, or I could crash my bike and, instead of getting back onboard a few weeks later, might never ride again. There’s also the weirdness of knowing that there are things that we will be buying for the last time, such as a new car purchase in the next few months, and things of that nature.

The global political situation is a big bugaboo for me. My wife, whose family has crappy genes, loves to travel and, as a former event planner, she invests a lot of effort and energy into planning trips (almost always to a European country), the results of which are awesome btw. We have one coming up in a couple of months. After that, we worry that Russia could get more out of hand than it already is, or the US could do some significant shit to us in Canada, such that separating ourselves from home by a big body of water could be a really bad idea. As well, she’s more likely to be unable to travel in the future than I am.

And a big one for both of us is becoming dementia-ridden and/or so physically broken that we need people changing our diapers or whatever. For this reason alone I wish that I was able to pop into a pharmacy and buy an “Exit Package” comprising a load of fentanyl that I could use with a final meal with some really nice scotch and full-bodied red wine, instead of going through a bunch of administrative crap to qualify for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID).

28

That’s one of the nicest photos I’ve ever seen!

-also 67