Senior Citizen

Senior Citizen…part 1

Alright, I wanna know how I got to be a senior citizen.  And just who can say when I am one I’d like to know?  Some say fifty five, others sixty or sixty two…or sixty five.  If they can’t figure it out then how the heck am I suppose to know when I reach that pinnacle in my life.

I confess I don’t know many senior citizens as I’m not into bingo, volunteering or social luncheons. Uh…sorry, that’s stereotyping isn’t it?  But isn’t that how we tend to see our senior citizens?  I freely admit, I haven’t a clue what our senior citizens do to fill their hours or for entertainment.  I must also confess…I don’t wanna grow up!  Growing ‘out and down’ doesn’t seem to be an option as gravity just doesn’t have a sense of humor.  Well maybe it does and the jokes on me?  Sigh……..

Not so long ago I was a wife and mother.  Now I’m a widow and a great grandma and somewhere in between the two, I was rushed into a place that is unfamiliar territory.  My heart goes out to anyone who loses a spouse at any age.  Yet the older one is, the harder the single life is…ya just don’t fit in anywhere, especially when you don’t feel old.

I’d guess my lifestyle may lean to being on the eccentric side as I’m not drawn to socializing, preferring to live the life of a hermit crab in its shell.  It’s taken me five years to adjust to being a widow and single and I’ve found it’s a world that doesn’t cater much to the older generation.

I doubt that I’m alone in not being prepared financially for being single and independent.  Being on a fixed income does have a way of bringing out the creativeness in me though.  Yet, with each passing year, the rising cost of living grips me tighter and tighter.  Sometimes being social isn’t an option…I just can’t afford it.   Yet I am one of the lucky ones as solitude suits me fine.  I’m lucky that I’m easily entertained and dabbling around my house and yard brings me endless pleasure.

There are many seniors though, who need people and need outside activities.  What is there affordable for them?  I suppose more than I know yet there isn’t enough, I do know that.  We need an affordable movie theater with decent movies…maybe the oldies but goodies?  We need a little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop where older music drifts from the jukebox, where us older…but not old…folks can gather to enjoy others company without head-banging music drowning out our voices.

We need more minature golf courses and whatever happened to croquet?  When did old-time dancing give way to line dancing.  I’m doing good to follow a recipe, let alone a long dance routine!

To be continued…

(© bldavid)