The gifts of old age

Perhaps we can momentarily set aside the usual difficulties associated with ageing: declining health, disappointments that won't improve at this point, or simply looking funny-- with wrinkles, gray hair (whether or not she dyes it,) or balding for a lot of the guys. We may have lost touch with popular culture, let alone information technology.

But this is a thread about about the gifts of old age. I'm 68, and I can name several things about my life that go better for me now than they did during my middle age or youth. I'd love to hear from others about what you enjoy now-- or hope to do as a senior.

1. Being retired. I have a small pension-- enough to live on, so I really enjoy having my time as my own. Flexibility. Being able to do more of what I wish to do when I wish to do it.

2. Life experience. Sure, some of it's dated. But I don't think the human basics go in or out of style. I'm impressed by how much knowledge-- and wisdom-- some of the other seniors here express in their posts.

3. Not caring so much about what other people think.

4. Fewer worries about how my life will turn out. The majority of it already did.

I think two points in the horoscope are highly relevant to ageing: Saturn and Chiron.

Your thoughts?

This poem, "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple" may be a good departure point.

http://www.barbados.org/poetry/wheniam.htm

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Hi waybread, an interesting subject from an interesting knowledgeable person, if old age can give gifts it's only through a capable mind, our state of mind is the one thing for sure that takes the lead; so can we add Mercury to Saturn and Chiron?.
Wisdom is the second gift, the wisdom in use and the use of wisdom, when we look back and see the wisdom in events that led us to where we are, while now we try to use experience and positive useful thinking to take the best course of action in present situations.
Yes we can relax, feel free, avoid tension, heavy duties and responsibilities, but the best thing ever is that we can watch time and it's influence on everything, feel free to form our different opinions on matters and be happy to be alive and kicking.

"I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens,
And learn to spit."

this sounds like me
but i haven't touched 40 yet!

when I am a senior, i hope to have strong joints, and healthy feet, and lots of laugh lines and twinkly eyes.

No, but I just checked him out on Wikipedia, and his ideas look interesting. It's interesting to think that a lot of modern society's ills are caused by the enforced cultural norm of being positive and transparent.

One thing I've found in my senior stage, is that death is a fact of life. We moved to a community with a lot of retirees, about 10 years ago. Demography being what it is, we've had about a dozen friends and neighbours die since we moved here. So seniors do talk about death: it's not a taboo subject, or even a particularly morbid one. Sad things happen. Yet it is so opposed to today's youth culture, which seems to see avoidance of discussing death and dying as healthy. Unless, of course, we briefly mention that the patient "lost a courageous battle" with his final illness. Well, if you've got stage 4 cancer, it doesn't matter how courageous you are. It's not like a tennis match.

(Of course drug-overdoses among the young and middle aged are something else.)

My high school is having a 50th reunion next month, and after some thought, I decided not to go, but I did fill out their electronic questionnaire. One of the questions was worded something like, "How will you keep busy in your retirement?"

Heck-- I don't want to keep busy. I did that during my career. Now I'd like to focus on serenity, life in the slow lane, and nurturing some family relationships.

Speaking of which, one of my gifts is a new grandson. I'm a first time grandmother. I spent a month with him and my son & daughter-in-law babysitting while she went back to work. They frequently text me cute baby pictures. So in some ways, being a grandmother has brought me closer to them. If a few wrinkles or aching joints are the price of reaching this stage of life, I'm happy to pay it.

Oh, and one other thing I might mention is the discounts and freebies given to seniors, ranging from movie tickets to National Park admissions, to bus rides.

I think being young is hard at any period of history. Because the only life experience under one's belt is childhood, or a young adulthood in which we still have to figure out a lot of things.