I embrace it in times of stress and worry.
Just carrying on doing the do things if my body happens to co-operate that day. And my mind is not seething with "why bothers"
I'll hit 81 next week. (I know I'm as shocked as you.)
I find I am diminishing as I age, much of the time I feel irrelevant. Though I'm trying not to geezer my way through these last few years.
Life is not like before where I couldn't keep up with social demands and entertaining in my own home (I really, really miss that). The phone rings with other old geezers like myself, sometimes lonely, sometimes helpful. I find we help each other out more, picking up or dropping off or just now when fireworks ripped the night sky apart, texting to complain about the helpless animals affected. We've lived that with beloved pets
I don't start sentences with "In my time"
I try not to say "I've seen it all before" - though that's a tough one.
But I have, seen it all before I mean. War threats (try the sixties) revolutionary music, skirts that barely covered the arse (now they buy them ripped but I hold my tongue)and tall boots that were like scaffolding(they never quite went away, did they?)
Like some, I don't complain about modern technology (I embrace every twist and turn - hello TikTok!) or young people - most inspire me and teach me.
I am grateful for all I still can do (on my good days, mark you!)
One close friend, a year younger than me, has just lost her driver's license. Mine was renewed for 5 years recently and I am beyond happy about that. I still love driving and miss the days when I'd belt across Canada with my dog in tow. My insurance rates are laughably low. I won't jinx it by telling you why though you can probably guess. 64 years of driving under my belt now. I learned on the rough old boreens of Ireland.
I'm rambling on - now I see I am an old geezer.
Here's a few pics.
Dinner last night. A freshly caught salmon from a friend.
A lovely lunch overlooking the ferries and boats a few days ago.
Flowers from a friend today which lifted me up from loneliness for my family of origin.
Much to be grateful for. And I am.
Your beautiful lunch venue would have me uplifted for days.
ReplyDeleteYou will be unsurprised to hear that I too embrace the ordinary. And increasingly think that the purportedly Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times' is a particularly vicious one.
Interesting times has never been about goodness and kindness, always conflict and hate.
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You phone rings and it isn't about anything medical? I wish that happened to me.
ReplyDeleteIf you are alive, it is still 'your time'.
I love the energy, enthusiasm and skills I see on TikTok. And humour at times.
My mother took little notice of world news but she was scared in the sixties by the cold war and nuclear threats.
I had to Google boreens. I thought it was some kind of very old style of vehicle.
Lovely word boreens, directly translated it means little roads. In Irish if I added een to your name I would get Aindreen. I'm with your mum, I was terrified in the sixties. Every plane in the sky.
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I'm just three years your junior, WWW, and find that my mind is adjusting nicely to accept my aging body. I also avoid saying "In my time, ..." but frequently hear my self saying "Years ago, ..." quite a lot. Your salmon dinner sure looked delicious!
ReplyDeleteYes, that years ago thing (which when we think about it is equally meaningless) can stumble my tongue now and again.
DeleteWhen things cost a dime. Yeah go on Granny were you making $10 bucks a week too with no sick leave or vacations in the shirt factory? LOL
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Keep at it, WWW, I'm only three years behind you and I feel like I'm catching up fast.
ReplyDeleteOne of my blog friends, now bless her deceased said 78 was the big one, really downhill physically after that. She was right.
DeletePSA RJA are you getting my comments on your blog? They disappear it looks like.
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Grateful to keep up the momentum and maintain motion. I find that when I exude kindness with energy all good things come to me.
ReplyDeleteOn the good days I can do that Delaine. I loved your post this morning. Made my day.
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A wise friend told me that the only way to keep going is to keep going, so I do. Maybe not as fast. Maybe I put my feet up more. But still upright, moving forward, and feeling pretty good. So far. I am 8 years behind you, though, and I have a feeling that I will see some big changes in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteThat's our mantra around here--you gotta keep moving if you want to keep moving. Neither of us sits very long at a time or else we become one with the seat!
DeleteGS I hear you. I was doing 10 mile runs up to a few years ago. Now if I traverse the long halls here without groaning or stopping it's been a good day.
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DKZ my father would say something similar : disease never catches up with the moving body!
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The flowers and that view are lovely. I'm glad you are still able to drive.
ReplyDeleteOne of the pleasures I am so grateful for River as I never take the little bonuses left to me for granted.
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Those flowers and that friend are sweet! Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteThank you e, great pleasure in the small stuff.
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I'm reminded we shared a close birthday, I roll over on the 17th. August is a good month! Rolling the roads of Canada, my dream! Watching so many adventurers and overlanders through the provinces on Ytube, never thought deep enough of how much beauty and untamed land is north of me. Have a glorius birthday, hope filled with joyful surprises.
ReplyDeleteOur parents had lovely Decembers that prior year, CJ! I can never get over Canada's beauty, it's breathtaking. Labrador was such an enormous wonderful experience and I will never forget it being one example. But I live in incredible beauty every day too. Us Canadians are very quiet about it all but our depth of love for this place is deep.
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I learnt to drive age 15 on Donegal boreens.
ReplyDeleteMy father was insistent that we learn to drive - his daughters in particular: “I don’t want you becoming that dreadful old lady who never learnt to drive and has to be given a lift home from church every b***y Sunday” 😂
Your father was a wise man indeed. Unfortunately though, even the old ladies who learnt to drive eventually need a lift
DeleteYS I would have loved your dad. My dad did NOT believe in women drivers. Why you ask? Because you could never catch a man if you became that independent. Seriously. I learned with crazy boys driving beat up crap and didn't talk about it at home. My younger brother was given access to the family car. I wasn't. Click.
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Kylie, yes I'm lifting a few of the old ladies now who lost their licenses. I'm older than some of them.
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I'm decades younger than you and still have to be careful not to say "in my day" I also get a shock when I think of a happening that happened 30 years ago or when I'm talking to my kids about some long ago news item or movie and realise it was when they were in nappies.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to still have a licence, it makes all the difference
I don't know at what age that kicks in but I know I was guilty of it too when my kids were growing up in the : I didn't have my own phone, I didn't have my own room, I wasn't allowed wear jeans department etc. What a cranky old bore I was and I was only in my thirties then!
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I know what you mean about avoiding the classic old-codger remarks like "in my time" and "I've seen it all before". It's easy to be a bit withering to youngsters who think they know the answers to everything!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've been astonished Nick that often they DO know the answers and I am informed and then have to do my own research. I find them vast in their comprehensions (and solutions) and can hardly wait, if I'm allowed, to see them at the helm of our fragile planet.
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