I have thought of a name for us walkers. 'The grey streaks'. With our grocery carts, walkers, rollaters and canes.

Chanteyl..that IS great!!! I can see the marching walkers, a precision drill team..like those guys & girls in black biz suits with briefcases who march in the New Year's day parade in CA.

can you do Zumba with a walker? hahahaha

I actually went to one reg. class before considering paying for the slow Zumba for older/less abled folk. An older lady invited me, she went cause her daughter ran it..OMG even just shuffling left and right and sideways and back to front I had NO ability to keep my feet lined up and not tripping.

the toned 24 year old girls with stripped down racerback t's and tight spandex shorts were just machines..and I really mourned my loss of ability and strength. never made it to slow Zumba..was afraid I'd get tangled ion the oxygen cords of others.

we have a HUGE Senior community here on the north coast of CA..( way above SF)

A friend went to the excercsise classes..eveyone was 80 and very creaky..he had T shirts made up that said GEEZERCISE…some were offended

the truth hurts

PS about Sr. centers
Our big sr. center building has lots of stuff going one..I NEVER go as every time I try they all seem 20 years older and more decrepit than I am.

Not enjoying being with mom and granny strangers. …avoiding the future truth, maybe, but all they talk about is aches and pains and pills, and Medicare bills, and I already have neighbors in their 70s who do that…our only communication!!.

I was pushed to go for the 'socialization' when i turned 50..NO WAY!..then I tried at 55..still Nope, then 60..No! Now at almost 66 I still can't get into it. I am just a loner, a good book and a chance conversation while dog walking serves me well.

what is YOUR experience facing greydoom..uh..greydom?

That is a great idea Chanteyl. I got a great visual on how that would look. Us seniors need to unite and throw the stereo type to the wind.

I'm not sure they have exercise class for senior citizens here, but it is a grand idea. I love what you had on your shirt Muddygurl. Some people have no sense of humor.

I didn't know if I would appreciate my DH retiring or not. It hasn't been too bad. I can get up when I want to instead of 4:50 in the morning. And we don't have to worry about breakfast before I've had my coffee.

well I haven't done too badly on my eating. Have lost 8 of the 15 pounds I wanted to lose this summer. So I have 7 more to go. Then another 15 by Christmas. I hope anyway, we'll see what actually happens. I've been at this steadily for a year this month.

Going to try and give blood today since they are running low on my blood type. Last time they had issues with my iron, so we will see.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I am going to Lowes today to pick up paint for the kitchen and backsplash tiles. It looks like my kitchen project is finally getting off the ground. ((YEAH!!!)) Talk to you soon

The news calls 65 year old people elderly! What?

I've lived in Senior Communities. I always feel that I don't belong. I presently go to a gym people can't even attend unless they're 50, but I still don't feel that I'm old - or elderly. Shudder! Elderly.

I've attended classes for seniors, I look around me and.....well, you know, same story. What am I doing here?

I just don't seem to get with the program. I'm 70. That means that I'm old. I'm Senior. I'm elderly.

I still don't belong. They're still older than me. I guess I'll never learn.

My DM was in her 90's and thought most seniors were old, she refused to join any senior groups. I love senior groups because I'm all alone now, and so are a lot of people in those senior groups. I lost all my friends and most of my family, so I join groups so I can enjoy life, while I still can. Groups have both 'up' people and 'downers'

I look for fun, and things to laugh at every single day. I think part of this is from my close brush with death from the cancer..... , I had 3 doctors thinking I was going to die. I guess I taught them something. Every time I go in for a checkup they pat me on the shoulder, I think they are amazed that I'm still alive.

Now, I'm just bragging, but, I'm cancer free for 10 years July 7, 2015. Whoo Hoo!

I'm not 70 yet, but can understand where you are coming from. I am 63, and sometimes I wonder how that happened. The years just crept up on me. I guess there will come a day when I will accept it, but not yet. I fight ageing with everything I have.

jmh-My DM wore wild colored clothes, she was never old. My DGM (my DF's DM) was young for a 100 years. My DSis used to race her in a wheel chair all down the beach and she would be laughing like crazy. She lived in a nursing home and everyone that worked there loved her, cause she was a fun person. I was always the old person, in the family.

Speaking philosophically here…I was about 40, and confused as "what does that mean?" as far as behavior, the way the world expects you to behave at 40, etc...a group of us women were meeting at my favorite hippie friend's house..she was always doing the coolest stuff way ahead of all of us..she got "Rolfed", used tinctures, walked on fire, studied weird nutrition and spiritual soul stuff..a very leading edge chick.

My friend shared the most amazing concept: LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING OLD…..she said she truly wanted to be like HER older friend who she considered old and wise. And she described how freeing it was to not be "on parade" for men's approval, and happy to be ignored by clueless guys just following their dicks, and finally able to do and say as you like because whose going to stop you? I LOVED this idea, and it has stuck with me. ( she was happily married, and not a 'man hater'..but he wasn't a joe football either)

What I recall disliking back then was the pressure at <40 to reproduce, and constantly be asked when I was going to have kids FINALLY stopped around 40.. if someone did bring it up I'd just say " What? I'm 40..get real!" and they shut up. [ok I've had a 25 year reprieve, NOW people ask about my [non-existant] grandkids!! grrrrrr]

So we discussed how some women are so tied to their 'beauty" they are fully ravaged as wrinkles show up, they actually bemoan themselves as worthless now, others layer on more and more makeup. Some dress like a 20 year old, and shop at Forever 21..but, everybody 'sees' that woman first as pathetic.

(Sofia Vergara a perfect combo of bombshell and comedienne said "she would put cement around her eyes if it stopped wrinkles and aging!) She is desperate to keep that youth..and yet there is a very stupid commercial on dandruff shampoo with her and her REAL 23 yr old son…bizarre..MEN dont want to think she;s that old! or a mom! young men don't care... they chase 20 yr olds, and women? why do we care? we can't identify, she's the least "mom looking" person on TV.)

I once learned MOST women keep the same hairstyles they wore in their sr year of High School, (my mom's generation sure did) and makeup style too…Now we see lots of ladies…boomers..with long hair and never trimmed, or worn up, almost the clinging to the "ironed hair" days. I swore I'd chop mine off at age 50 to a bob, but over time I left it grow, so maybe I am one of those women myself...

OTOH the most gorgeous woman I've seen in her late 60s was in a museum in SF…she was wearing a gauze skirt with elephants marching along the bottom, back tights underneath, and I remember she had naturally grey hair, and it was braided all the way down her back with a silver clasp…she truly OWNED her look, not like a kid, not silly, just sailing along as herself…basically she looked like she lived elsewhere and had returned to the states…. I admired her 'look'. maybe she was a total flake, but I didn't get that from her 'aura'.

Do ANY of you have positive images of being older?

I really like the freedom of not having to look gorgeous everyday. :-) Definitely more comfortable in my own skin and I love the emotional stability of not having my hormones pushing me around. :-)

After my last boyfriend I said "Frakk this" and stopped wearing makeup and got my hair cut short.

I posted in another forum about not putting up with disrespect when we age.

In this case an older-than-me geezer gardener treated me very poorly, was judgmental and rude, when I am the one paying the $60 an hour to get the yardwork done!!! (and his weak ass was one of 2 workers at $30p/h..why should I pay him to do less when I can hire 2 younger guys? So he lost my business permanently by being a jerk to a disabled lady.

I am so DONE putting up with any level of rudeness when buying services..even a 'single mom" house cleaner who was getting FULL gov. support when her baby-daddy left town, AND free paid babysitting while she worked for me..was too full of herself. Turned her nose up at basic work. WTF?
+++++++++++

people who are 18-45 may treat you like a doddering granny or grandpa with no worldy experience or education. They all think they invented everything, including sex. Makes me giggle..we boomers did some pretty nifty experimenting in that area, and have great mental health over it…the 1950s stuff yourself into a tight girdle, deny your sexual needs and only "give in" when drunk perverted a generation of healthy-libido women.

An old friend told me that in the 50s you knew you had to get a girl drunk
(candy is dandy but liquor is quicker?) HAD to work, subliminally, because women could NOT admit sexual desire..or she was the bad girl/whore/tramp,

And the good girls had to fight and resist temptation, the tight girdles were the modern chastity belt..getting out of it was unlikely on a date, so she was 'safe'…but that handy little snap crotch flap useful for peeing, always saved the day for many a lusty male..and his 'inebriated' diminished defenses partner, who had to enjoy her sex while being 'oblivious'. sad huh?

With young people, girls, who have become so 'equal' that men have no respect ANYWAY, because their deep instinct for a paternity-sure partner is no so easily rejected in just a couple decades. I see men go from girl to girl and there is nothing more she can 'give'..oh sure some men are liberated, and appreciate an equal minded chick…but I dont see lots of happy brides, do you?

We have a society going more to 2 singles buying a 2 master bedroom house..a male and female, never truly bonded. just fuck buddies…I see this as a loss societally. FWB seems truly evil because it means neither ise enough emotionally to commit, and be a real couple.

I was talking with a 40ish male poster in another forum, and I mentioned I was conservative..he assumed I meant "religious/sexually uptight"….. the idea of being a constitutional conservative never entered his 'little head'..that was funny when I finally figured out why he was writing so weirdly.

OK…that's off the LC mindset…eh?

I just turned 65 and feel the same way How did that happen? I know it's true because my kids are all in their 40s, but it's still weird. I'm still working as well and am incredibly lucky to be healthy. Not a single prescription. So it feels very strange to be a senior. But then we're the first wave of boomers and we will shake things up for everyone.

I went to a deep water exercise class and had to laugh. I was the only one under 80 in the group. and they were all giving it. Some of them work out every day. That's what I want for my future.

Now, I'm just bragging, but, I'm cancer free for 10 years July 7, 2015. Whoo Hoo![/QUOTE]

You certainly deserve to brag! Congrats and I wish you many more healthy years!

I hope it's ok to jump in here...

I turned 60 and had my first bout of sciatica nerve pain that lasted about a month. It was horrific. It was like a "welcome to old age" gift. This, and the pic of me at my surprise 60th b'day party woke me up like a bucket of ice water! I don't want to be fat. I don't want to be immobile. I don't want to be sick as I grow older. I didn't even know that I had grown OLDER until that day.

Now, I'm noticing that younger people are trying to help me. Carry my groceries. Open doors for me. Let me go ahead of them in line. One day I was walking into the WaWa (east coast convenience store) and a lady older than me held the door open for me!! I really hate the respect and deference I'm getting these days!

I used to become incensed when a cashier would give me a senior citizen discount without even asking. But now, I try to find the youngest cashier in the store so I can get that senior citizen discount without having to show my ID.

The women in my family seem to be long livers. I do not want to look forward to being sick and stiff and unhappy into my 90's! So time to act NOW!

Mackita, that is wonderful to be free of Cancer for 10 years. Sorry to hear about the sciatica pain.

We got back from vacation and I was not good. Back on track since Thursday. It sure is nice to be back into the normal routine of food and exercise.

I was not the one who said I was cancer free for 10 years. That was a quote from someone else's post. I have been cancer free for 60 years, thank goodness!!

It really does throw ya off when you're away from home and all the familiar kitchen stuff. But when you fall back into the comfy new eating habits, you'll be right back where you belong. Hope you enjoyed that vacation!!