When we recall the past, we usually
find that it is the simplest things —not
the great occasions — that in retrospect
give off the greatest glow of happiness.
Bob Hope
Ronald Reagan was speaking to a classroom at the University of California when a student stood and said, “ It’s impossible for your generation to understand mine. Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, computers . . .”
When the student paused for breath, Reagan said, “You’re right. We didn’t have those things when we were young. We invented them.”
Those of us who were born before 1945 were here before the pill, polio shots, smart phones, antibiotics, and disposable diapers. Before frozen dinners, credit cards, ballpoint pens,, and even before our generation was tagged with the name “senior citizens.”
We were here before computers. A mouse pad was where the mice hung out. To log-on was to add a piece of wood to the fire. Windows were for looking out of. We were even here before McDonalds and instant coffee.
My first job was at Kress Department Store where I earned the minimum wage of 60 cents an hour. My mother washed our clothes in a wringer washer that sat on the back porch and hung them on a line outside to dry.
I thought age 65 was old and the idea of finally reaching it seemed as far away as the thought that I would be wearing a “Dick Tracy watch” on my wrist. One that could talk to me and I could talk to someone named Siri on it. When I recently said this to an 18-year-old, she looked at me puzzled and asked, “Who is Dick Tracy?”
Now that I’ve lived long past that milestone of 65, I am living this season of life with a rich
reserve and so are you.
I’m not talking about money in my bank accounts but the reservoir of experiences that I’ve accumulated during the past 82 years. I’ve learned many lessons and intend to apply them to living the rest of my life with a positive mental attitude.
I also plan to keep an open mind to new things and new ideas and to continue learning every day. I still haven’t retired, operating an online ecommerce gift/gift basket business, and have no intention of retiring. Why should I just because I’m past the age that most people do? It provides me daily challenges, fun and interesting interactions with other people, and keeps me busy.
I’m realistic enough to know that I will never be as vibrant as twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. But now if I forget a name or walk a bit more slowly, people just chalk it up to my being over eighty.
I can take a nap whenever I feel like it and don’t have to set an alarm clock. I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff but to relish small pleasures like taking my dog for a walk or sitting outside in the early morning with a cup of coffee and the sound of birds.
I know now that time is too precious to waste on worry, grudges, or things I can’t change.
I don’t know what the rest of my life will be like but I’m planning on making it the best that it can be, as I put the past behind me, put the future into proper perspective and live each day as if it might be my last, for someday it will be.
And, so can you!