[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by pooh

I'll be 69 in a few months and do not consider myself an "oldster." I'm active, involved in life, appreciate new technology, continue to follow science and medical advances, enjoy art, music, continue to learn, teach, see beauty all around me and offer thanks each day for what I have and who I am.
Granted, I'm not as agile as I was in my younger days, but I wasn't as agile in my 50's as I was in my 30's. Age is also a state of mind as well as years living in our bodies.

My grandparents came from Italy and Portugal. Both Grandfathers passed relatively young, but Grandmothers lived longer lives....one died in her mid eighties, the other in her late 90's. Father was in his late 90's when he died, Mom, 88.

Maybe my attitude about aging is related to where I've lived for so many years....in warm climates. Grew up in New England and winters have a way of aging a body and it's spirit. Southern California and Florida have lots of bright, sunny days, relatively warm compared to days with wind chill factors below freezing and cold white snow. I remember my Grandmothers even looking old in their mid 60's.....their clothing, their attitudes, their lifestyles. Grandmas here are NOT the Grandmas we grew up with....

It's true, all of our grandmothers looked older than their years while still in their 60's, due to the clothing styles of the times for their age appropriate group. One can't even compare the clothing styles of Grandma NOW with those in the 1950's, 1960's, etc.

More power to you. WE , and our peers, up here in the frozen tundra, still keep up with all of the things you mention in your first paragraph......especially "the arts", technology, current events, history, travel, and everything else "new under the sun" which is indeed rare up here of late. Not to mention five grandchildren.

You are also correct in that people in the colder climates are confined more (unless they are avid skiiers or snowmobilers) due to the horrendous winter we've just been through, we do use our God given brains daily........in hobbies such as genealogy, maintaining huge data bases and websites.......arts and crafts, and what ever else strikes one's fancy.........each of us have a website we maintain. We've always kept up with the latest in everything.

However, we all KNOW we are not 20 or 30 or 40 or even 50 any longer. And we don't pretend to be. Married almost 50 years with lots of memories.

Just last evening, a 63 year cousin of ours in Bergen County New Jersey, was telling me how she is no longer "spry" and tends to put off doing physical things she once did without thinking; in other words, we are SLOWING DOWN......where we might have cleaned our entire house in one day.........it now takes forever.........we have big homes up here, as you know.

More like the spirit is willing but the body is weak. Not decrepid, but not as energetic as it once was in our younger years. Just a fact of life up here.

We see all of our neighbors limping around in this cold weather.........once it warms up, surely we will get our energy back..........a little bit at least.

Ponce de Leon thought he discovered the fountain of youth on the east coast of Florida......perhaps he did. Sunshine is a wonderful energizer for sure.....and you are lucky to have it daily.

Yes, age is a state of mind. As I said, we are all "young at heart".

Mentally, we still feel YOUNG.

All of our young friends, of which we have many........who are the
age of our "kids".......in their 40's and many still in their 30's....gravitate to us for our humor and our young at heart spirits.

But, still we know we are SLOWING DOWN.........and not what we were when we were younger. It's a fact of life and we are nothing, if not, honest.