I joined a gym today. Well, I started the process of joining the gym today. It’s a wellness center associated with a local hospital, and I filled out the paperwork and a letter is being faxed to my family doctor since I am over 50 and they need to have them sign off that I will not drop dead the moment I begin an aerobic activity. Which, I mean, fair enough, but it is not lost on me that from the age of nine to the age of 54 I have gone from needing a permission slip to go to the bathroom to needing a permission slip to go to the gym.
I chose the Wellness Center because it was cheap, it had a pool and water aerobics courses, and it isn’t a hip influencer or musclehead outfit. I’ll be there with olds like me, and most likely anyone younger than me will probably be staff. Case in point, the person who processed my paperwork at the gym today was in one of my mass lecture courses when I was a Doc student, predating even Balloon Juice. So all those reasons, and did I also mention it was cheap and you can pay monthly instead of requiring quarterly or annually?
At any rate, I have been thinking about aging a lot, for obvious reasons, but it’s also clear to me that a lot of the decisions I make RIGHT NOW, both healthwise and about the future, are quite critical. But one of the more surprising things to become evident to me with with all the discussions about Biden’s age right now is that it is painfully obvious that a large number of Americans simply have no idea between the normal aging process and dementia/alzheimers/parkinsons/etc. Just none.
And I don’t know why that is. I mean I know that this is a culture that values youth and beauty over all else, and that we push elderly out of sight so they are neither seen nor heard, but I didn’t realize that so many Americans are so alienated from older people that they don’t know the difference between someone who is just old and someone who is cognitively unwell. It’s very weird to me.
I guess on reflection I have spent a lot more time with older people than many, or maybe it is because even as a child my parents would say things like “he’s 11 going on 74” when talking about me, but I have always gravitated to people older than me. Growing up, there were always college kids around and even thought they were only 18-22, as a 9 year old, that is older. Then all the college professors that lived in town who I did yardwork and stuff for, or the old guys from WWII who used to take me to County GOP meetings, or when I was a dj at the radio station I would engineer Monday Night Oldies with one senior and the Ashbourne Hour (a three hour classical music show) with Dr. Taylor, or so on. Plus, WV is an aging population, so proportionally I have always been around a lot of older people.
And I understand how the culture can change your perspective- after spending a few years on active duty in the military, where old is someone who is a SFC or E-8 means 28-32 years, when I got out I could not believe how old everyone was. After spending a couple really long and intense years with nothing but 18-25 year olds, it was a culture shock. But it can’t be that bad, can it?
It’s just so weird and it means that people aren’t even paying attention to their own aging. I mean you still feel like the same you even though you are older, right? It’s just there are somethings you can’t do as well as you did before, but you didn’t just become worthless, did you? You just adapt and do things smarter or differently. Except in the cases of actual cognitive decline, the vast majority of elderly people you see still have a young person on the inside, just the outside is a touch dinged up and you just gotta run the engine a little longer to warm up and maybe can’t reach the same top speed you used to.
It’s also kinda weird that this is the way things are in the US, especially in the post ADA world, the United States is so much more accessible than other countries are for people who are a little older and have a hitch in their giddyup. As a younger country (and I am talking about the country itself, not the residents), we aren’t dominated by 800 year old buildings and the like. Modernity makes accessibility easier. So you should be seeing more elderly people out and about and be more used to interacting with them.
The whole thing is bizarre, and as someone who is rapidly becoming a member of the “olds,” it is really depressing. God damned kids.
War for Ukraine Day 870: The NATO Summit Is Over
SomeRandomGuy
So, reporters are reminded of their own mortality by Biden, and of their own gross, vulgar, pointless desires to cheat mortality by Trump, and it’s a statistical tie, with the “MORTALITY IS A LIE!” people screaming that Biden must leave.
ETA: apologies if this should have been non-political content – I was just mocking reporters’ as if they were political candidates, and judged by the same criteria.
cain
Glad you’re doing this – focusing on your mental and physical health is a good thing. I’m one year older than you at 55. I’m in pretty good shape for now. But one thing I try hard is to make sure that I’m as slim as I can be with the right diet.
When we get heavier we put a lot of force on our bones and I don’t want to develop problems with walking because of stressing out my joints. Keeping yourself trim, having a good solid resting heart rate, and keeping your heart muscle strong is good.
rikyrah
Water exercise, Cole?
Yes👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
TBone
I’ve come around to the Hunter Thompson philosophy (even if he didn’t say it):
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: One I saw ended ” ..with a margarita in one hand , and a joint in the other….etc”
Suits me fine 🤗
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: ❤️💋
Of course, ya gotta stay at least fit enough to walk to the driver’s seat!
Starfish
I am biking with my family for some small amount of time 20-30 minutes every morning because my job is turning me into an anxious mess. The tech layoffs for the past year or two have been quite a lot, and it is not like we are working on things that really matter in any real way.
Soprano2
Good for you, John. When I was 50 I decided I needed to lose some weight and get back in shape because I was tired of being winded after climbing one flight of stairs. I’m in better shape now than I was in most of my 40’s, although I’m not thin. Plus, regular exercise is a great stress buster and helps you sleep better.
CaseyL
Old people are a lot more visible culturally now than they used to be, I think. There are rock stars in their 80s, actors (men and women) getting lead roles well into their 70s and 80s. The “role models” for old people offer a lot more variety than they used to (“amusing or grumpy codger” for men, “crone/witch” for women, and that was about it for a long time).
It is odd that with people living much longer, and retaining their mental/physical vigor much longer, than any previous iteration of old people, tolerance for visual, obvious aging has…diminished?
I think that’s the problem: It’s OK to be old, as long as you can still jump around like Mick Jagger or battle villains like Harrison Ford. But if you wear your years unapologetically, like Biden, then somehow you’re an affront.
Jay
A few years ago, I raced my rock climbing partner up a 5:11 climb, Darrel is 30 years younger than my 62.
I made the climb, he didn’t. 3/4’s of the route up, is an “impossible” ledge. You can’t underclimb it. The right move is a Hail Mary dyno, (leap) out, under the ledge and up, (you need about 20 feet of slack in the rope, so it’s a hard landing if you fail), land a fingerhold on a “blade”, then arm walk up, until you can get your feet on a foothold. After that, it’s not bad, just tiring.
Darrel was all “how did you know to do that!!!!!!!!!!”
“I read the guidebook.”
Harrison Wesley
@TBone: I’m a miserable old sot so I see myself in the line from Macbeth: “Nothing in his life became it like the leaving of it.”
Jackie
Good for you, JC! You’ll enjoy exercising in the pool!
P.S. I miss Joelle’s posts and I want a Thurston update.
AND a Steve and Max update. Please???
HeleninEire
I love you to death John Cole, but when I read “I joined a gym today” I dropped my beer. Imma gonna go read what you wrote
❤️
Grumpy Old Railroader
I’m 76 and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up
Enhanced Voting Techniques
When I was a child thirty meant you were over the hill and past your prime, and senior citizen was 50+ and most of the people in my family that age were at deaths door.
Now I am sixty and, well my endurance isn’t the same, I got greying hair and otherwise look like I could be in my forties.
Improvement in diet, medical care and automation have made huge difference in people’s lives.
Ishiyama
@Grumpy Old Railroader:
It is never too late to have a happy childhood.
satby
This is not a society that values its elders. Subsections of our society do, like black and Hispanic communities; but in general the quest to stay young looking and acting is the norm. So a lot of the reactions the last two weeks were fear, fear of old, fear of decline, fear of impairments. And if we could just push it (or him) out of sight, everything would be ok again.
Which honestly is pathetic.
seefleur
Anyone who has worked in a nursing home/elder care center can tell you the difference between someone who is well-aged, and someone who is old and can’t make decisions. Many many years ago I worked in a nursing home. We had several residents who were sharper than most of the staff, and would have run rings around most middle-aged people if it hadn’t been for the fact that they had osteoarthritis and were unable to physically run those rings. But mentally, at 85 and older, they were “all there”. I’ve also been dealing with parents who have unfortunately been dealt the dementia hand in their later years. When I can stand to listen or watch the convicted former White House resident, all I see are the same signs and symptoms that my parents have exhibited over the past 6 years. Alzheimer’s took my mother – she was a physician, very well thought of in her specialty. Her last 5 years were awful, mostly because my father refused to admit that she was mentally failing and tried to cover up for her in spite of the fact that he (also a physician, ironically a gerontologist) was also failing. She’s gone, he’s still sliding. And so much of what he has become is a mirror of what that convict is showing.
I guess my point is that we all get old (I am within spitting distance of Medicare), but some people do lose their cognitive abilities. Biden hasn’t shown anything that would make me concerned about his ability to continue. He’s surrounded himself with excellent people who support his policies, and support the people of this country.
Aging happens, and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing – a lot of people become much better, like a fine aged wine.
Steven Holmes
My wife and i rejoined our local Y last month, we cancelled our membership during Covid, and decided to gain weight and lose muscle for a couple years.
Any way, I like the Y because there is a wide range of ages, and most people just look normal. You can do everything available at a more commercial gym, but without judgement from others or ourselves,
The biggest difference I notice in age groups is modesty. A teenager is the most modest in the locker room, an old Korean war vet is just gonna let it all hang out.
schrodingers_cat
@satby: Indian community too. Elders are revered. Sometimes it veers to the other extreme, young people have no say even in their life choices.
RSA
Good for you, Cole. Wanna feel old? Join my gym, which is half a mile from the local high school and gives discounts to minors (gotta hook ’em young).
Jackie
@Steven Holmes:
You brought back a hilarious memory! My WWII veteran dad still lived independently in his early 90’s. He broke a hip, and after two months of rehab, he was able to return home. The main stipulation was having someone at his house while he showered. My son – mid 30’s was volunteered for the assignment to help with modesty reasons. Son was hanging out in the nearby living room while his grampa was preparing his shower. Son was NOT expecting grampa to step out into the hallway to announce he was ready…. Butt naked. I’m pretty sure my son still hasn’t recovered 😂
Kayla Rudbek
@Jay: so “age and RTFM beats youth and skill”?
Suzanne
I don’t think the issue is “lack of experience with aging” . I genuinely do not. The country is statistically the oldest it has ever been. Life expectancy has been growing significantly. More and more people have their grandparents alive until they’re in their forties. I think it’s an especially weird thing to say about women, who historically have done society’s elder care work, either in their own families or in healthcare settings for others.
What I do think is different is a cultural attitude around health and intervention in general. I see this in my own family, where there has historically been good ol-fashioned resistance to certain types of medical care as an admission of weakness. It’s this weird Protestant thing, I think. Like, there’s an idea that the body has some failure and you’re just supposed to accept it. Of course, because my own elders do it and our families create our buttons and then push on them, it makes me absolutely C R A Z Y. It reads as not taking care of oneself. Of laziness and giving up.
VFX Lurker
Great news, John! Wishing you well in your fitness journey.
I’m 49 and obese. I’m trying to eat better. I’m also aiming to do at least 30 minutes a day of Ring Fit Adventure playlists on my Nintendo Switch. It all helps.
Kayla Rudbek
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: yes, I remember seeing an 1960s ad for Geritol and being shocked at how old the women in the ad looked (I think they were supposed to be 50-something). Less smoking cigarettes and more sunscreen for the Gen Xers and younger has been a major contributor in my opinion.
Mousebumples
@seefleur: thanks for adding your perspective!
@Steven Holmes: I also love our Y! More for little kiddo programs, but when I don’t need to be in the class with them (or nearby for potty breaks), hopefully I can get into better shape.
gene108
@Steven Holmes:
Teenagers do not want people to find blemishes in their youthful good looks. They might have something to lose. Teenagers get love at first sight crushes on each other. Their looks matter.
Older folks don’t strike up the same desire in anybody.
Scout211
AL’s post went AWOL. 404. 😟
seefleur
@Mousebumples: I had meant to say that both my parents were declared incompetent after taking the standard neuro testing. In the case of my father, he was convinced that as a former gerontologist he would be able to sidestep all the “trick” questions. He failed – you can’t cheat on a neurological test. I’m sure that Biden would do just fine. The other one, not likely…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kayla Rudbek: It’s more than that. I haven’t seen the East coast side of the family for decades and then my uncle came to town and was showing pictures from the family who stayed in Pittsburgh threw the worst of it; I am the oldest by ten years in my generation, and it looked the other way around; I am tanned, have good teeth and beefy, the next oldest, ten years my junior is scrawly, pasty faced, liver spots and bad teeth.
Jay
@Kayla Rudbek:
Yurp.
No treachery involved.
Always RTFM.
BigJimSlade
@Steven Holmes: here’s a comic about that:
https://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences2/locker_room
gene108
It’s the opposite for me. I’ve seen my aunts and uncles age into their 80’s and 90’s. Everyone ages differently both physically and mentally.
Mental decline has not been uniform in how it presents in my older relatives who have had it. Some are repetitive and others might understand what’s being said but cannot manage much of a verbal response.
BigJimSlade
@Jay: you lost me at “(leap) out”, lol.
SiubhanDuinne
WTF happened to the wonderful Kamala thread??
KrackenJack
@Ishiyama: “You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.”
Scout211
Its back. She said it was a draft but got posted tonight. But she’s leaving it up.
frosty
I second all of that, JGC! Especially the younger person on the inside.I still feel 26
We were on a 0.8 mile hike down to the beach in Olympic NP with our trekking poles yesterday along with a ton of younger people. One whippersnapper said “Props to you!”
Gee thanks. I wanted to tell him “Go downhill for miles like I did (when I was 25) before these were invented and you’ll be crying for them too!”
SiubhanDuinne
@Scout211:
Oh good, thx.
CaseyL
Good on ya for joining a gym!
I’ve belonged to many in my time (though not currently) and it seems to me the best way to keep at it, and go regularly, is to find a few things that you really enjoy doing and focus on those. You don’t have to use all the machines, take all the classes, or do all the things.
Lily
People with a habit or belief that moving fast is a virtue are intolerant of the slow. Almost like a prejudice, seeing someone who’s going slow = they’re stupid, or in the way and undeserving of the space they’re walking or driving in. Sometimes when I’m thinking fast and talking about an idea I likewise get irrationally annoyed.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Steven Holmes:
I can completely identify. I stopped going to yoga when yoga stopped being a physical class (March, 2020), because I don’t Zoom, and followed your lead.
Was diagnosed with pre-diabetes about a year ago, have started going to yoga at the health club (the first several classes were brutal – I had NO idea how out of shape I was), and have started doing some weight training also. It’s fun! I can now carry 25 Lb. kettlebells around for a little while, and do arm curls with 10 Lb. weights. I’m still overweight, but I’m doing better.
As someone said, “it’s better to be the oldest one at the gym, rather than the youngest one at the retirement home”.
Poe Larity
@TBone: As long as you’re willing to go out like Hunter.
My energetic 50-something dentist apparently got injured on a ski trip and appears to be an opoid addict now.
Jackie
BAHAHAHAAA! Stephen Miller is freaking out!
Math Guy
@TBone: When I turn 90 I plan to take up BASE jumping.
frosty
@Jackie: You hate to see it. LOLOLOL
Jay
@BigJimSlade:
They are called “dyno’s” in rock climbing, also known as “dynamic moves”, kinda like getting up on the Monkey Bars in the park.
You just basically “jump” to the next hold, because it’s too far to reach.
Quite often, you bed your feet, lock into the rock with your weak hand low, (knee level), crouch down with bent knees, dominant arm low, sweep the dominant arm up to a “Superman” pose while launching with your legs.
Hopefully, you stick the landing.
They are kinda fun.
The Cat’s Chair
If you can find exercises you like and go to the gym at the same set time every day, so it’s 1. enjoyable (or at least not misery) & 2. a habit, you’ll succeed. If you can find a class (or workout partners or music & Bluetooth earbuds) that motivates you, that’s bonus. If you can tie your workouts into getting ready for something — going for weekend hikes w/a local group or playing tennis or just charting and monitoring your progress — that’ll help keep you motivated.
I was Army National Guard and went to the Infantry Officer’s Basic Course at Ft Moore (then Benning) back in 1988. Rucking was on the menu. Over 6 weeks, we trained with heavier & heavier loads, going farther and farther. For a final test, all 108 of us road-marched about 24 miles with 65+ lb rucks.
Our Tac officers (both mechanized infantry types who smoked) “helped” us by calling out stuff like , “Almost there! Just around the next corner! Over one more hill!” From about mile 10 on. We knew they had pillows, not ammo, in their rucks because we tossed all the rucks into a deuce-and-a-half when we got transported in cattle cars. So we either sneered or laughed at the ‘encouragement’. But we all made it.
The old fart in my squad, a prior-enlisted from Oklahoma, collapsed about 6′ beyond the finish line. The rest of us dropped rucks and dumped water over our heads. Tim lay on the ground, still wearing his ruck. “It sucks to be old. Wait til you’re 30 like me.”
I’m nearly 60. Man, I miss 30.
Jay
@Math Guy:
Squirrel suit or not?
wjca
Definitely have the same problem.
It originally manifested in my 30s, when employers would ask (during the annual performance review): “What job do you want to be doing in 5 years?” To which my response was (and has continued to be ever since): “In my entire career I’ve never had a job which existed 5 years before I started doing it!”
Still working (admittedly only part time) at 76. Still doing jobs which didn’t exist 5 years ago. Well, that’s IT for you.
CaseyL
@TBone: I saw that on a plaque, and bought it for my Aunt as a Birthday present. It sums up her life very well, good and bad.
I will also quote Terry Pratchett: “Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” I can vouch for this, absolutely.
Math Guy
@Jay: Squirrel suit for sure. When I was in my 30’s – still single and a little reckless at times – I was hiking near Steamboat, Colorado, and while climbing a ridge leading up to Mt. Zirkel, I leaned out over a cliff. The wind was blasting up the face and I unzipped my wind shell, grabbed the lower loops and fanned it out. I had no idea then that I was improvising a squirrel suit, but it let me lean out over the cliff, supported by the wind. Sometimes doing stupid stuff can be thrilling.
Fair Economist
There was a viral realization a year or two ago that the actresses on the Sex and the City revival were roughly the same age as the actresses on the Golden Girls when that started. There was a lot of discussion about why women in their fifties, at least on TV, don’t seem as old anymore.
That said, when I look at pictures of myself, I think I look every one of my 59 years. I’m in decent health, at least.
Steven Holmes
@BigJimSlade: I think that cartoon is an actual photo of the Downtown Raleigh Y
SpaceUnit
Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, I took an eight or ten week course and became a certified physical trainer. I took a job in a fitness club. It wasn’t a bodybuilding gym but it had free weights and machines, a 25 yard pool, squash and tennis courts, etc. All sorts of stuff.
Best job ever. I mean, I wasn’t making much money, but I was young and didn’t need much and it was the most satisfying job I ever worked in my life. Helping people get into shape and start down the road to a healthier lifestyle? That positivity? Priceless. I would have worked there for free.
Eventually I had to get a real job, but damn we had fun.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
If you are all are looking for distraction, may I recommend the You Tube channel
The Wild West Extravaganza
Josh is an amateur historian and does his best to cut through the mythology of various old west historical figures. It’s quite fascinating because a lot of the tropes in our society started in this era.
Poe Larity
Don’t feel old? They’re remaking Time Bandits.
Mike E
@Grumpy Old Railroader: I’m 60 and was hoping you’d know and tell me because I have no idea either.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
JC:
I’m sure you wont’ see this but I’m hoping you’ll stick with it. The water aerobics struck a chord cuz one of my neighbors does that. Had to stop during The Plague Years but just took it up again when some of her fellow church goers (she’s African American and has lived here along with her 94 year old mother a looooong time before the fauxgressive whites gentrified the ‘hood).
Is she a monster athletic type at her age? Hardly. But she’s in there doing something that’s good for mind and body.
KRK
“I joined a gym today, oh boy…”
A Day in the Life of John G Cole
All the best to you blogmaster.
BigJimSlade
@Jay: Sounds exciting! But I’ll stick to hiking. My knees can handle that, but certainly wouldn’t be very helpful with any launching activities, lol.
Soprano2
@seefleur: This has been driving me crazy! None of the press seems to have had any experience with dementia, or they would know people only take those tests if the doctor thinks they have a memory problem. They should be asking why TCFG took two of them but Biden hasn’t taken any!!
ETA I’m sorry about your parents, that’s tough especially when they are in denial so can’t get help.
BigJimSlade
@Steven Holmes: hah! :-)
Soprano2
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: My sister was a sun baby, while I stayed out of the sun as much as I could. I was 5 years older than her, but people always thought I was younger. I’m 63, people regularly guess me as late 40’s/early 50’s. Don’t smoke, stay out of the sun, and have good genes is what I always say (I inherited the youthful look from my mother’s side of the family).
Soprano2
@Jackie: Fuck him, his gross fingerprints are all over it.
hoosierspud
70 year old grandma who lifts weights 3 times a week. I like feeling strong.
Book recommendation: “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto on Ageism” by Ashton Applewhite.
NotMax
“The aging process is not gradual or gentle. It rushes up, pushes you over and runs off laughing. No one should grow old who isn’t ready to appear ridiculous.”
– Horace Rumpole
.
“We all learn by experience, but some of us have to go to summer school.”
– Peter De Vries
.
“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
.
NotMax
@Siubhan Duinne
Kamala thread comes in; Kamala thread goes out. No one can explain it.
:)
Bupalos
People are really abusing the term “cognitive decline” and confusing it with dementia. Do you take longer to come up with names than when you were 30? Can you sometimes not get to the most appropriate word, and have to substitute something simpler? Congratulations, you’ve experienced cognitive decline. Biden is 81, he’s experienced significant cognitive decline for sure. Seems to function somewhat above average for his age, and has added a lot of experience and judgement that can make up for it and then some.
And he’ll very likely lose the election because of perceptions about age and the presidency.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@NotMax:
I think it has something to do with the moon. The green cheese maybe? Could be the cow that jumped over it.
Ruckus
John, as a fellow vet may I suggest the VA? I was discharged 51 yrs ago and have been using the VA for over 20 yrs. Now like every thing else on this planet, it is not perfect. But it is pretty damn good and the doc I got assigned to is one of the better docs I’ve had in my lifetime. I really never have had a bad doc and have been happy with the medicine, and the one surgery that I’ve had. Sure there has been a glitch or two, but nothing even close to major. I have found that using a hospital is best, local clinics often hire docs to do clinic work for 1/2 to a couple days a week and the hospitals more often do full timers so the service is a bit more consistent.
Just my experience.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos: Sez you.
Spadizzly
Oh, bullshit! Just stop it already with the goddamn defeatism. The age “difference” is only 3.5 years, and at 73 yo myself, I view our President as an elder brother, and fuck the other, twice-impeached, convicted felon. Hammer them on Project 2025 and run the split screen comparing a mensch with a maniac. We can do this.
Msb
Good job, John. As my brother says, “At our age, you use it or you lose it.”
Ruckus
@gene108:
Yes, aging varies with everyone. I know a lady that is 98, she still rides around on her 4 wheel senior scooter. Not as much as she use to but still she does get out. I’ve known others in their mid/late 80s that had to live in a seniors home with staff and locked doors. Hell I live in a seniors apt complex, one has to be over 55 to rent here. I’m a tad and a half older than that. Hell I was a tad older than that when I moved here 8 yrs ago. I’d say about half the people are over 70, with of course some well over it. About half the people do not drive at all, and I’m thinking about becoming one of them. Right now I’m giving myself another year at most.
Ruckus
@Bupalos:
A lot of people either aren’t that old themselves and/or don’t have parents in the aging assistance zone, which is the age when one is no longer completely independent. I am not yet in the early part of that assistance zone but it is not all that far off in my future. I still drive but am thinking about selling my car. LA county has a pretty good public transit system, I can ride the electric train 50 miles across the county and a bus on each end. And there are several train routes that let me go to many parts of the county if I desire.
The Pale Scot
Astonishing I’m 60 and my bloodwork is perfect, but 10 operations on my knees and feet have left me a shambling bag of nuts and bolts. I’d happily trade the blood work for a weekend of playing Rugby.
Ruckus
@Grumpy Old Railroader:
I’m a year behind you and what I want to be when I grow up is still here.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
As an official old at 75, I believe that in the couple of generations before me no one really expected to grow real old. And before that it was even less expected. It happened of course but for a lot of the generations prior healthcare was minimal to for all intents, non existent. It really has changed dramatically in my lifetime. One of my grandfathers pasted 13 yrs before I was born and one made it till I was 22. My grandmothers made it to when I was 5 and 18. The major difference is actual healthcare. We know what it takes to live longer, we know so much more medically that a lot of the things that used to cause an early end we can handle or are no longer issues. Examples – small pox, measles and polio, all of which existed as real dangers when I was born.
TBone
@NotMax: 💜 one of the reasons I adore Cary Grant is his willingness to appear ridiculous. Thank you for sharing those.
No one should grow old without a sense of humor.
HinTN
@Ruckus:
Indeed, I have a friend who is 5 – 6 years ahead of me (I’m 71). He was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer three years ago and is living well. Of course he’s in CO where they have medical marijuana, by which he swears even though he never partook in early life. He’s teaching grad courses, has reservations to travel on the QM2 to Europe next spring and says his cancer is treated as a chronic illness. The world is a better place today and we can make it more so, if we will.
HinTN
@TBone:
I went to the visitation for the mother of a contemporary yesterday. He introduced me to his wife and she asked if I was as wild as he in youth. 😂 I answered that I was clueless as a child, clueless as a teen, clueless as a young adult, and probably clueless today, but I now have the possibility of recognizing that condition. We all laughed.
Ramalama
This summer in québéc has been great….hot very little rain …for us. I live walking distance to a lake where I try and swim daily. It’s my jam and doesn’t hurt me especially if I start out treading water. I dig the ability to swim in circles if I want. To go when I want. And no chlorine. But this year I will indeed join a pool to swim off season and adjust my schedule to theirs and swim in lanes with eye protection.
Chris T.
I joined the cheap gym when I moved here. Plenty of machines and iron, no pool or tennis or pickleball courts, but has the usual cardio theater, Zumba, etc classes and also yoga. Been tempted to try the “vertical bar teaser” course… 😇 (can’t find a stripper icon) They didn’t make me bring a doctor’s note, so I have no idea what’s going on with yours.
There’s another gym that does have a pool and pickleball courts, but it’s further away and costs more. Don’t need that stuff, just resistance and cardio.
Chris T.
@Steven Holmes:
Huh … I’m old (ish) and I go in wearing what I’ll be wearing for my workout, so that I don’t have to change. There are some rare exceptions but that’s the norm for me.
TBone
@HinTN: 👍 ❤️ if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’re truly too old!
Raven
I wrote a big reply to this post and the whole thread vanished!!
K-Mo
Normal cognitive decline s you age “most commonly include overall slowness in thinking and difficulties sustaining attention, multitasking, holding information in mind and word-finding.”
“However, not all thinking abilities decline with age. In fact, vocabulary, reading and verbal reasoning remain unchanged or even improve during the aging process.”
https://memory.ucsf.edu/symptoms/healthy-aging
Ultimately this means that there are jobs and roles that you will naturally be able to perform better or worse at different stages of your life. It doesn’t mean you are useless or your life is meaningless at any of these stages.
Biden and Trump are essentially the same age. On a list of differences between the two men, age is not in the top thousand.
Nonetheless, if you’re right and the average voter doesn’t understand things this way, we have a political problem.
Rachel Bakes
Late to the game, but awareness of elderly has co fused me for years. As a child my elderly relatives (1 surviving grandparent and some grand-aunts/uncles) were 75+. We saw them regularly and my grandfather lives with us for his last 3 years. Sadly I attended funerals regularly through middle and high school. I thought everyone had families like that. Then in college I discovered peers has grandparents in the45-55 range (my mom was 55 when I graduated). Such a weird revelation me.
BellaPea
Wow, John, didn’t know you were a DJ! So was I, in late 70s-early 80s. A fun job, but the pay was crap. As I’ve gotten older (68) I’ve noticed a change in the way people who don’t know me treat me. I get called “honey” a lot and it is all sort of patronizing. I tend to look younger than I am also, so that may be part of it.
The whole outcry about Biden is disgraceful. It is particularly shameful when you look at TFG who is obviously suffering from dementia/Alzheimers.
K-Mo
@Bupalos: (touches nose)
K-Mo
@Spadizzly: it’s strange but Trump may benefit here from the fact that he has long been a simpleton and an egomaniac. As he gets older, the drop off in complex thinking, nuanced messaging, and incorporation of multiple views is less salient because it started at essentially nil.
Still, it would be worth it to document and hammer on the ways in which his schtick *is* deteriorating. The amount he repeats himself, recites canned slogans instead of responding to questions, and runs off his original point have all been ballooning.
xephyr
I’m 72 and my gym consists of an old house and a few acres that always need work. I have to do most everything myself, so it’s a good thing I’m handy and in decent health (fingers crossed). I could use more cardio, but who couldn’t.. The attitude so many have about old people is such a waste. My own parents lived into their early nineties, and while they slowed down considerably, both were sharp mentally until the end. Wisdom is more important than putting on a show.