Thursday, August 16, 2012

Coming to terms with aging

    Yesterday I was jolted when an acquaintance referred to a 72 year old couple (friends/peers of ours)  as "elderly"! And I wondered, "When do you become elderly?" Will we be termed "elderly" in five years or less?
    I am accustomed to being called an "older woman". My first brush with that idea was in my 50's when a student at 6th St mission in Philly passed by my sister and I in a hallway at the mission and asked his buddy, Who are those old women?' I looked around and did not see any old women- so I asked him, "How old do you think I am?" His first guess was 103! Whoa! What a joke!
    But since then my hair color has changed and other signs of aging have appeared..like the onset of Medi-care, senior discounts plus other advantages or disadvantages. Even though my husband is fast approaching the big 70- we continue to think of ourselves as "young seniors".
    But "elderly"??? -wait a minute!!! I checked the dictionary. It says "Seniors, somewhat old, beyond middle life."  OK, so we are somewhat old and beyond middle-aged. Since most of our children are middle-aged, it is not hard to recognize that we are beyond middle-age. But elderly- that is a new thought! Do we need a new definition for the word - or what?
    There is one consolation- I looked up the word "aged" too. The definition for aged is "VERY OLD".  OK, so we may be about to move into the camp of elderly- but we are not aged or ancient quite yet. After all, we still work for a living,  have our driver's license and a valid passport. We have not celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary,  put in a reservation at a nursing home or become great-grandparents yet.
    But then, in third world countries, it is a great honor and blessing to arrive at an old age. God has blessed us with life! Have we let the world pour us into it's mold of thinking old age is undesirable? The only other choice is to quit breathing- and we thank God for life- even if it feels like a transition to be viewed as "elderly". We dreamed of growing old together- and thank God for the privilege of spending 47 years together in our "Landis Home".



2 comments:

  1. Trying to sell my mom house on Blackman Steet in Wilkes-barre across from the former St, boniface church. I was wondering if you new anyone moving in to the area. trying to settle a estate no reasonable offered refused. house is in move in conditon with some furniture. please email at pazonk8@verizon.net or call at 570-855-2514 my name is Mary. thank you

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  2. Hi Betty Ann,

    Ah well, I confess to becoming 72 this November, so I guess I'm also classified as "elderly"!? All I know for sure is that my knees definately do NOT do what they used to do!

    On a lighter note--There was an "elderly" baseball pitcher by the name of Satchel Paige who played for the old St. Louis Browns in the late 1940s and early 50s. He was over 50 years of age, actually no one really knew his true age, after he came into the major leagues from the black baseball league. When asked about his age, he would give the following advice---"Never look back, somthin might be gainin on ya"

    I guess it's good to be young, but then too we "elderly" seniors have so many blessings to recount. When I am playing with my 7 yr old adopted granddaughter from China, somehow I do not feel like I am 72.

    Blessings,
    Gary Good

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