The Seniors Thread :-)

[darksideofthemoon]

"This is for the Senior members of CS, those born before 1947. Baby Boomers and Generations X & Y are welcome providing you are over 18 🙂

But this is definitely for people who are facing the last long haul.  We have survived babyhood, childhood, being teens and twenties... We have learned to read and write, to drive, have probably been married and the women have survived child birth.

The challenges are constant and the near misses of death are also there.  If we have become a senior we have learned to survive so much, and along the way we have, of course, gathered a great deal of knowledge about life.

The  belief that age diminishes us is not true, it changes us and not all of it is bad.  Yes there can be various forms of dementia for some, but that is also a disease that can happen in younger people.  Alzheimer's can also occur - it is another form of dementia and generally occurs in people over 65, although that can occur much earlier too and not everyone is going to get it.

Most of us keep our mental alertness up to the moment of death, even if we lose our hearing and our eyesight, but of course this can happen at any age too.

What changes is our physical strength, which diminishes but our mental strength and patience grows, it has to of course, to deal with this aging thing.

Arthritis, heart trouble, strokes - all these things associated with age can happen at any time in your life - arthritis can happen when you are a child but they don't like giving out new hips and knees until you are in your 50s and 60s or later.  We can talk about that too.

Cancer can happen any time and that is also something we can discuss here if you like.

The point of this thread is to give the Seniors a chance to talk about how they are coping with age, the challenges it presents and the fears that can come with it... loss of hearing or sight, aging spouses, living alone, retirement villages, even death...

So I will ask that the Juniors treat us in kindly fashion and remember, all this is going to happen to you too - providing you avoid death before you get here 🙂

So, onward and upward.  Let's go...."

[kengillard]

One of our neighbours farms had grove of mandarine trees..I used to ride my horse to the fence, climb through and stuff my shirt (that was tucked into my jeans) with fruit then pig out on the way home.  speaking of horses, I had "my" horse, a creamy with a brown mane and tail and NOONE was allowed to ride her. I was 12 or 13......visitors came up from Sydney and I happened to be quarantined with chicken pox.  Saw the son of the family riding MY horse Queenie, so got dressed, caught the shetland pony, chased Queenie and ordered him off!  can't remember whether he got off willingly or I pulled him off!  The hide of him, riding MY horse!!!!!

[bluepanda555]

omigosh, because I don't go online till about mid=arvo there are so many posts to catch up on ..... but talk about a trip down memory lane.  Hello everyone.  😛

Pets in those days... I don't even remember if there was such a thing as a vet .... but our little dogs never ever went to one, and never got sick.  No vaccinations or cute coats, or special food, just table scraps.  No such thing as leads, or walkies .... they just ran around the streets. 

My first kiss .... by today's standards I was a late starter, my first date and his too I think, both of us  15, .  He held my hand during the pictures and he was so sweaty.  When the time came for goodnight he lunged at me and landed a slurp on my face somewhere.  Gawd.

Thebraff, I do remember the organs in the cinemas that went up and down into a pit. 

Yes Grandmoon, the vegemite ad... then another ..... Someone isn't using Amplex  poster where a mean looking female is glaring at a man next to her.  Took me ages to learn what Amplex was. 

[joybar246]

Hello again all -

Now I am only up to post 160, as my husband is very ill & I've had less time to catch up with my favourite thread - so sorry if I'm repeating something someone else has already written, but just wanted to add some comments before I forget (old age !!!)

I've thought about THE SILENT GENERATION title & reckon it could also be because, in those days, we kids were told not to speak unless spoken to first, but speak when you're spoken to, watch your manners, say please & thank you, look where you are going, respect your elders, give your tram seat to an older person, eat all your vegies, pick up after yourself, & so the list goes on. I think all that discipline never hurt us.

About looking after grandchildren, or having to do something else you don't want to do, or shouldn't have to do (& this is not about everyone who wants to do this or that) I have had a paperback for many years now "Don't say yes, when you want to say no!" (I think) oh boy - what a cheek in all the examples therein, very good reading. I lent it to friend once, who kept it for ages, so I never lent her any more books & that was her fault not mine!

Jean - one of my friends had a beehive hairdo, which she kept going for a very long time & when it was finally undone, it had a nest of cockroaches in it! No - it wasn't me, I used to do my hair into a French Roll all the time.

Bluepanda - I always liked "Life with Dexter" & "Night Beat" (Randy Stone, newspaper reporter - stories start in many different ways, this one started with.... & ended with.... Copy boy!".

Darki - MH & I used to go Square Dancing 4 times a week, when we lived in England, loved it & still play our LPs now & then.

Keng - we used to do 40plus garage sales every Saturday, but when we did them last, we had to ask ourselves "is this necessary for my survival" & ended up putting things down again. We still have too much "STUFF".

Jvh - at least curling rags didn't hurt like hair rollers do!

Will call again later, unless someone gives me the boot! jb.

[freddie*rooster]

joybar, i'm so sorry to read of your husband illness, I lost my youngest 53yr old  brother 4 months ago from cancer. He had a very rare form of cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma) which is normally found in children. At the church service we asked for donations to prostrate cancer, the result was a very generous donation to the Prostrate Cancer research group.

[darksideofthemoon]

So sorry to read about your brother freddie, what a terrible time for you all... bloomin' cancer X-(

Who remembers this?

I like Aeroplane jelly

Aeroplane jelly for me.

I like it for dinner, I like it for tea

A little each day is a good recipe.

The quality's high as the name will imply

It's made from pure fruit,

One more good reason why...

I like Aeroplane jelly,

Aeroplane jelly for meeeeee...

[darksideofthemoon]

Joybar, you could be right, it was do not speak unless you are spoken to, respect your elders etc etc... it would make anyone silent I think..

.. and a jolly good thing too, wish there was more of it these days 🙂

[purple_haize]

So sorry to read about your brother freddie, what a terrible time for you all... bloomin' cancer X-(

Who remembers this?

I like Aeroplane jelly

Aeroplane jelly for me.

I like it for dinner, I like it for tea

A little each day is a good recipe.

The quality's high as the name will imply

It's made from pure fruit,

One more good reason why...

I like Aeroplane jelly,

Aeroplane jelly for meeeeee...

I remember this too.

Also, having respect for parents and others, not answering back.

[purple_haize]

Freddie, I am sorry to hear about your brother.......cancer is a terrible thing, my mum died of cancer many yrs. ago.

Joy.....hope your hubby is well soon.

[joybar246]

Thank you freddie - I read about your brother just a couple of days ago, when I came across your posts.

To go at 53 is worse than older & I felt very sad for you & all your loved ones, losing him like that. It takes a lot of getting used to, as well, if one ever does get used to it.

My older sister died of leukemia, at age 35, on Christmas morning 1976, so Christmas is always a sad time for us.

Thanks purple, but no, MH will not get better now - going to doctor tomorrow in the hope of stronger pain medication, but there's no cure, & once the cancer deposits take hold in the bones - well, I guess it's a matter of time & I hate to see him in so much pain, at least if he could be made comfortable, that would be something.....

Darki - I have a couple of little plastic Aeroplane Jelly dishes somewhere in my collection of odds & ends, I wonder how old they would be? It would just be interesting to know. AGW, jb.

[freddie*rooster]

Thankyou PH and JB ♥