Is There Sex After 60? (Navigating Single Life After 60)

The Non-Complainers

My family is a family of non-complainers.   I was brought up with this group and so I have tried (somewhat successfully) to be one of the family, however, compared to the rest of them, I am at the bottom of the pile. I note how men and women over the age of sixty often talk about their health and or their grandchildren. I totally understand the undying love a grandparent can have for their grandchildren but if they aren’t my grandchildren (or the grandchildren of my family) I am only slightly interested in hearing about them or seeing photos of them.   Will I be different if or when I become a grandparent? I don’t know? Maybe? I am sure I will be totally involved with them. I love my children and I enjoyed having pets. I occasionally talk about my children and post a photo or two but not ad infinitum. This is going to be very controversial. I understand that this could start a firestorm among my dear friends who are grandparents. Keep reading because…. I might be changing my mind.

The second thing I have noticed that seniors talk about, is their health. This also is an interesting subject to you and to your family and loved ones but no one else wants to know about your health. It is mostly interesting to you. I have tried not to fall into the above two senior categories.

Except … this month the GIANT HAND OF THE UNIVERSE CAME DOWN APON ME AND SLAPPED ME RIGHT IN THE THROAT!! I BECAME THE RECEIVER OF the WORST SORE THROAT OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! It hurt and burned as if someone had forced me to swallow knives… burning knives. It burned like HELL to swallow my own saliva. Water was nearly impossible to drink. I went to the doctor and she said that I didn’t have STREP THROAT. Of course, I didn’t believe her. She told me to gargle. HA HA Sure … that didn’t help at all. I tried everything. I took every pill I could find just to be able to have a sip of water without tearing up. I took every kind of pill to be able to sleep. AND complain! I complained to anyone and everyone who I could think of complaining to, my children… I sent them emails twice a day, my was-band yep, I texted him daily too. Strangers, yep, I told the concierge, the post lady the teller at the bank and the cashier at the grocery store. I even sent a few emails to friends AND, yes, to my sister, who (or is it whom?) by the way, never ever complains about anything

I told you before that I come from a family of non-complainers and I do. My younger sister had breast cancer and she was very, very, ill for a long, long time. She had about nineteen or twenty operations and I can’t think of one time that she ever complained about her illness. She was always beautiful … doctors had to be told how ill she was because she looked so terrific all of the time. She was funny and cheerful and stylish to the moment she passed away.

My father in his last years exercised several hours a day and he would get up at 6:00 A.M. to play tennis with his friend the doctor who was 15 years younger than my father. My dad was forced to stop playing at about 92 or 93 after he had passed out on the court a few times. My father in his late 80’s and 90’s had both knees replaced, both hips replaced, he had a heart attack. I had to really think back about his heart attack because he really had it and never mentioned it again! He had cataracts and had an operation for that and decided to have the eye operation so that he never had to wear glasses again. He had arthritis and his toes folded over so he couldn’t fit into ski boots. What did he do? He had a few toes removed so that he could continue skiing.

My mother was the same… never complained and my older sister (who looks like she is several years younger than I) also never complains.

I, therefore, surely do not belong in this family. I totally now understand my fellow seniors … and I will probably complain from now on about my health until I kick the bucket. One, it somehow helps to tell people how you feel. It also doesn’t feel as scary as it might feel if you have to face any illness alone. So please, seniors, forgive me … the universe, once again, has taught me a lesson. I get it and I totally sympathize with you. Wait until I am a Grandmother …. I will probably write daily about them and pictures… yes, did I show you the latest pictures of my boys???

Write me … I will send another post next week. It is going to be about lost loves!