The Golden Years, what's your take?

Haven’t looked at this thread before now and haven’t read it all. However logging in just now I spotted your last 2 comments puzzled, I’m one of these people who always reads a magazine from the back cover! Having done so I could not just “read and run”.
What a positive attitude to have in the face of the great sadness and loss that you have experienced. Thank you for sharing it now, as you especially remember your dear son at this time. May your cup continue to “run over” as you enjoy the life that you have and seek to reach out to others too. xx

Although we are both in our 80s, we feel blessed to be so well.
We lost our son, 29 years ago, yesterday; but we have a wonderful daughter and two wonderful GC. S i L has different views on life from us, but mutual tolerance, and help, goes a long long way.
We could be in far worse situations.
We have enough on which to live and do the things that we want. Although not perfect, we have our health, and the strength to do a little to help others.
Count your blessings, there are always others who are far worse off than you in some way. Try to do something to ease their burden, even if only by listening.
Recently, some said "It doesn't matter if your glass is half full, or half empty. As long as you have enough glasses"
As Tom Moore says, "Tomorrow will be a good day"

We are blessed in so many ways.
With reasonably good health (DW has to take medication for cholesterol, atrial fibrillation, osteoporosis) we have enough money to live on, and a roof over our heads.
By some standards we may not be seen as rich, but there lots of others less fortunate than ourselves in many ways.

Under normal circumstances we would be involved in four or five outside activities.
We have been married for nearly 57 years, (Our combined ages total 162) and we are mentally and physically active.
We enjoy each others company.
All has not gone smoothly. Our son died 30 years ago, but D and S i L have two lovely children, both now at uni.
We have both been made redundant (3 or 4 times between us) but we have survived.
So, these have to be Golden Years. Our needs are met, and we are happy together.
What more could we ask? (In my case, only for more patience and tolerance!)

MawB

^Some of the members here have sent me some encouraging pm's. One lady wrote of you^:
"^She was a head of department in a grammar school." The rest of the message was quite complimentary, but you wouldn't expect a gentleman to divulge, would you? Old school, remember^

Well I wouldn’t expect a gentleman to divulge any thing from a PM

Your post contains more than 1 error of fact.

Slightly baffled by why the bit of the pm you quote is not complimentary either. Even assuming it is true.

^Some of the members here have sent me some encouraging pm's. One lady wrote of you^:
"^She was a head of department in a grammar school." The rest of the message was quite complimentary, but you wouldn't expect a gentleman to divulge, would you? Old school, remember^

Well I wouldn’t expect a gentleman to divulge any thing from a PM

Your post contains more than 1 error of fact.

MawB Sun 02-Aug-20 19:10:14
Why do you ask?

You still haven’t said why you asked me?

kittylester Sun 02-Aug-20 17:25:18
I spotted that your prostate was prostrate!!

There's something amusing about that error.

MawB Sun 02-Aug-20 19:10:14
Of course. But I knew it was a typo/predictive text thing, so I didn’t comment.

Spot on, my spellchecker thinks that it can spell better than me.

MawB Sun 02-Aug-20 19:10:14
Why do you ask?

Some of the members here have sent me some encouraging pm's. One lady wrote of you:
"She was a head of department in a grammar school." The rest of the message was quite complimentary, but you wouldn't expect a gentleman to divulge, would you? Old school, remember.

The English teacher at my grammar school sowed the seeds of a love of The Bard when he took the class to an afternoon performance of: "The Merchant of Venice." At the end, after the audience had left, my fellow classmates and I were invited to fill up the front two rows. The actors then came back on stage, still in character, and we had about forty minutes of questions and answers. It was the best English class that I ever attended.

Spangler

MawB

Actually Spangler I too am old school

Post script: The spellchecker is having heebie jeebies over the spelling of rooves. It's roofs. No it's not, I'm old school and the plural of roof is rooves

And it’s roofs - not like hoof/hooves.
That’s OK. Don’t mention it.

MawB, did you see miss my spelling faux pas? Prostate acquired an additional letter, 'r,' making it prostrate. Or have I got away with it?

Is my Oxford English Dictionary redundant because It has a few spelling mistakes in it? It shows the spelling of the plural of roof as rooves, no doubt if I check I might find a few others too.

Of course. But I knew it was a typo/predictive text thing, so I didn’t comment.

Why do you ask?

As for your OED, mine says roofs disp (=disputed use) rooves

I spotted that your prostate was prostrate!!

MawB

Actually Spangler I too am old school

Post script: The spellchecker is having heebie jeebies over the spelling of rooves. It's roofs. No it's not, I'm old school and the plural of roof is rooves

And it’s roofs - not like hoof/hooves.
That’s OK. Don’t mention it.

MawB, did you see miss my spelling faux pas? Prostate acquired an additional letter, 'r,' making it prostrate. Or have I got away with it?

Is my Oxford English Dictionary redundant because It has a few spelling mistakes in it? It shows the spelling of the plural of roof as rooves, no doubt if I check I might find a few others too.

Isn’t there a Bowie song of this name ( Golden Years) or did I imagine it??

Sorry folks. I tend to make posts as brief as possible but I think
I overdid it
Spangler I haven't a clue what you're talking about re Gy but it sounds fascinating. ?

One of the best parts of my Golden Years is my volunteering. I love spending time with DH (my soulmate) seeing my children, grandchildren, wider family and my friends but my volunteering work is also a huge part of my time now and I have sorely missed it since lockdown. We are getting going again via the dreaded Zoom, which is something, but it isn't the way my role works best.

DH volunteers too - sadly his work isn't back to normal yet but it gives us a purpose which isn't pure self indulgence.

It’s a wonderful sentiment Urmston and all the “richer” if you’ve gone through poor, poorly or tough times together (as most people - me included - who have been in a long relationship).
Cheers ! ?

Whenever Himself & I chink glasses we always say (since retirement) ‘life’s good’!
??

Spangler your life sounds lovely and as if it is suiting you right to the ground ?

Unequivocally Now! More than once a week we say to each how fortunate we are.
We lost a house, for bad business reasons (our own), we lost a baby (not down to us, it wasn’t meant to be at that time), but we have come through, had 2 children we are proud of and we have each other and good health for our age.

DH can play his beloved Golf 3 times a week, and I can see family and friends whenever I want as they all live near.

That is a good life, these are our Golden Years.

My golden years were the ones when the children were young
And DH and I were in our 30’s.We had a wide circle of friends, not many cares, our health and vitality and it was a wonderful time.
Not that it’s all that bad now, but those were the true golden years for me.

Every dog has it’s day!?

Orangerose

Oo how clever Spangler. I think the poster means GY= Golden Years

Golden Years, of course. When you hear the phrase “the golden years,” there’s no mistaking the topic. We are talking about retirement. A time of relaxation and leisure. The crowning achievement of a lifetime of hard work. A time to travel, play golf, take up a hobby, and make time for the grandchildren. A time for anything but work.

This concept of retirement as an endless holiday, however, isn’t even as old as today’s retirees. The actual phrase “The Golden Years” was coined in 1959 in an advertising campaign for America’s first large-scale retirement community. It was a gamble to see whether the fifty-fives and over would embrace an active new way of life, move away from their families, and buy one of the modest homes on a $2 million golf-resort development in the middle of the Arizona desert.

The campaign was a success. On the first weekend, 100,000 people showed up to see for themselves if a lifestyle free from responsibility and the constraints of working life could actually be possible. For many seniors in the 1950s, retirement was a lonely time of decline. They had the financial support of the State pension and some had a second pension, but once they left the workforce, they had little purpose in their lives. Retirees saw themselves as “too old to work, too young to die.” No wonder The Golden Years concept was successful, the idea of retirement was being sold as a second childhood!

Is being in my seventies my golden years? Well, I have no children, so no grandchildren, I work, socialise and enjoy a lasting relationship, all of which I enjoy. I have no financial difficulties and I live in a house that, fifty years ago, would have been a, flight of fancy. So that's my golden years.

annep1
I hope your not referring to me, those are my initials ?

Oo how clever Spangler. I think the poster means GY= Golden Years

GY? The only GY acronym that I know is the Grey symbol, Gy? The one that is a derived unit of ionizing radiation dose in the International System of Units? It is defined as the absorption of one joule of radiation energy per kilogram of matter.

How sad am I?

Nanna2 what is your take on the GY? ?

annep1 Sat 01-Aug-20 23:24:07
Spangler
Sorry maybe I'm a bit slow but I don't get the point you're making with the story about the poor little old lady and the voice rattling in your head.

It's not you that's slow, it's me that's left too much out. Re-reading my post I can see why.

At 19, I'm never going to be old. At 19 I was very rude to a senior citizen, it wasn't the way that I was brought up. The lady's reprimand came back to haunt me whenever an age related ache or pain came along.

Shame on me for being so disrespectful. Even today, knowing, and denying, that a knee joint replacement is on the horizon, I still hear: "You'll be old!" Only now there's a prefix, "I told you that you'll be old."