I have been thinking about aging lately and all the problems that go along with the process. I see my own body changing very quickly and realize that I just can’t do some of the things that required no effort at all even 5 years ago. We try to fight the process by changing our eating habits and taking vitamins and even doing cosmetic surgery to lessen the effects that we see when ever we look in the mirror.

I really don’t mind the thought of retirement, but so many do especially when we reach our mid 50’s. Bill actually says he can’t afford to retire until he’s 67, which will be in 7 years. He actually hates the idea of getting older as so many do. I do worry about that because he has worked all his life and unless he takes up some kind of hobby or sport I’m afraid he will be lost even though he loves his weekends because we ride the bike and his time is occupied.

If the weather is bad then he really doesn’t know what to do with himself, he paces and can’t figure out what to do and actually around here there isn’t much to get involved with and we all know that we humans are at our best when we feel we are useful and productive. Being able to be creative is something we all need and to feel that we are part of something larger than just ourself.

I know when my brother had to retire because of health reasons he simply moped around and worried about everything and he also had very little to occupy himself with except his grandchildren. I think if he had been able to feel like he was contributing he would have lived a lot longer. I know at times I find myself getting depressed for no reason at all and I have everything in the world to be grateful for. I chalk it up to menopause and aging. I have always liked the idea of reversing the aging process so we can live our old age as a youngster.

What issues are we faced with right now?

·Of course Social Security can always manage to run out of money before we retire and because of so many things that have happened in our life we really didn’t have the chance to save up for retirement.

·At this point in time we are faced with different types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, ALS for which the only relief is death unless they can somehow find a cure and how sad that thought is to face especially for the families of those afflicted.

·I have witnessed issues with adult children such as death or illnesses or even divorce that the retired parents are then faced with the responsibility of having to raise their Grandchildren and some just aren’t able to cope because of health issues or economically. I know that we love ours, but it’s so easy when we can just see them when we want and leave the rest to their parents. This type of thing happens quite often.

* I also do not like to think about being in an old folks home, not just because of all the horror stories I know about. It just seems so sad that these people who once lived such a productive life and are now considered the discarded burdens of society. People have a hard time with visiting this older generation for whatever reason.

Ok, that’s enough of these thoughts. I am going for a shower and we’re going to visit the kids for awhile. Watching the antics of the Grandkids always lift my spirits.