COMMENTS

66 responses to “Open Thread Update: We Know We’re Getting Older When…”

1. When. You find a rotary dial phone in a box in the garage.

   Reply to Phyllis sanders

2. I realized I was getting older when it became more difficult to see over the steering wheel – I shrunk and my 30 year old car seat compressed! Problem solved with a pillow.

   Reply to Jean

3. I.knew I was getting older when a young woman offered her seat to me on the Subway…. I was surprised, but said Thank you!!!

   Reply to Kathy sitterke

4. When a young man rushed to my side on a hill during the rain and offered me his arm! I loved it.

   Reply to Bonnie McCune

5. When I need a ladder to get things down from shelves that were always within reach before.

   Reply to Marie

6. I can tell I am getting older every time I have to put my birthday on a computer form. It takes a lot longer to scroll to 1942 than it used to.

   Reply to Anthony

7. So many reminders.
   New Year’s Eve with my son, daughter-in-law, her two siblings with their partners. When dinner was served they insisted my boyfriend and I take ours first. All evening we were treated as respected elders. They are all in their early to mid thirties.
   It was just weird.
   And very sweet.

   Reply to Raven

8. …when the names in my little black book are all doctors!

   Reply to Phil Nespeca

9. Six words: When I was first called, “Ma’am.”

   (& that was in my 50s, now 70)

   Reply to Sheryl G. Pincus

10. I was visiting my mother in a seniors’ lodge. I was going up the elevator and a resident asked me if I “was new there”. I’m only 63. Maybe it was the mask?? Let’s hope.

    Reply to Veronica Apple

11. This has been a laugh out loud comment read and thank you all!

    I first felt life’s change when my eyes could no longer go without glasses and that was @ 40! Then came Menopause and my body temp (10++ years later) has never been the same;) But also, someone mentioned already, being offered a seat on the subway, that was quite the surprise and first time said no thank you, not the second time.

    There is so much isn’t there but have to say fun writing about it!!

    Reply to Lucy

12. When I realized that all my shoes have flat heels, and 2″ is HIGH.

    Reply to Bobbie

    1. I started being called mommy, grandma by effect strangers.i can’t stand it. All they see is an old lady, not a person.

       Reply to Cara L Berton

       1. I loved it when one little boy in his daddy’s arms called out to me, “Hi, Grandma.”

13. Gravity and wrinkles are okay with me. They are a minor price to pay for the new freedom and wisdom inside my head and my heart.

    Reply to Francesca

    1. Good for you, Francesca. Let’s not focus on being older, but on what we are continuing to learn and grow, and be excited about!

       Reply to B Shankari Rise

14. Whne I have two surgeries in one month and have to schedule the others for the following months because I can’t do so many invasive procedures in 30 days!

    Reply to Charlene s Mertz

15. This might sound weird … but I came face to face with the fact that I was officially “old” when I realized that all my ballet teachers were gone. This includes my childhood and college teachers, not surprising, but also the teachers I’ve studied with here in New York – some as recently as the mid-1990s.

    Reply to Jane Rubinsky

16. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! I call it defiance, maybe defense. I’m old and getting older—not dumber or demented. I’d much rather be considered crazy than crumbling. Keep speaking up Barb! Love it!
    :) Kate

    Reply to Kate

17. I know I’m getting older when I’m filling out a form on line and I have to pick the answer to ‘what year were you born’ from a drop down menu. I roll past so many decades to finally reach my selection near the end of the list of possibilities. It always makes me chuckle to literally see the years go by and feel grateful to be a healthy aging woman.

    Reply to Carol Bracey

    1. Ditto for me. Thanks for the laugh.

       Reply to Arlene

       1. When your 97 you have to go way, way down.
          Mouse has to keep moving.

    2. Lol, Carol, so true.

       Reply to Ernestine Morrison

18. I KNEW I WAS GETTING OLDER WHEN I LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND SEE MY MOTHER, TAKING AND WALKING LIKE ME LOL

    Reply to MIRTA FELICIANO

19. it’s not Gray hair….it’s Silver hair and it’s having a fashionable moment!!!

    Reply to Francesca Aorta

20. People start offering you help with snow removal before the snow starts falling (not that I’m complaining!).

    Reply to Amelia E Henchey

21. Oh I enjoyed ENORMOUSLY all your posts!!! I realized I was OLD when men stopped looking at me as a “woman” lol! But also the same as many others here, I hang on to things that were and still are very dear to me. I prefer skirts to pants (though they’re warmer in winter), never bothered tinting my kind of golden-white hair, being a past opera singer I still have those small tapes as well as the old tape recording (which I saw they’re selling as “antiques” at high prices lol and so on. That’s why I’m looking for friends close to my age (a healthy and energetic late 80s) so that besides going out together to interesting places, etc. we can also chat of days gone by and reminisce and laugh and be happy in our last years of our journey. Anyone from NYC to meet for coffee somewhere and chat? :o) Rosalba

    P.S. Among other things I do is swimming and aerobics 3 times a week, bowling, dancing, theater, and more, except at present those places are closed as you know.

    Reply to Rosalba

    1. I’m 83, wish I walked and exercised more. I write a lot and paint on and off.

       I’m on the upper West Side near the park. Need someone to walk in the park with once a week or more. My interests are manifold -as I’ve learned from my Tube viewing.

       Are you up for some accompanied activities in Central Park – or Riverside for that matter?

       Reply to jessicanooney@gmail.com

       1. Jessica, I’m sorry the message I sent to your email address here, bounced.

       2. Central Park opens up realms of possibilities to write about, long for an opportunity to have visited or even lived there.
          Visions beckon.

    2. When you can’t remember your first kiss.

       Reply to Martin

    3. You go girl… well, when we can actually be out & about again. Too bad I’m not in NYC, you sound like a great individual to hang out with. Be happy!

       Reply to Arlene Moehring

22. I am 81. Traditionally, members of my church who are younger, start to address those in my age group as Mother. I refuse to be addressed that way and instead said, call be Lady before my first or last name and not Mother. It worked!

    Reply to Beverly Leali

    1. Good for you for speaking up for what you want, Beverly!

       Reply to Shankari Rise

23. When I look in the mirror I see my mother and wonder where I went and when. Listening to people my age I hear more about what they did in the past rather than what they are planning for the future.

    Reply to Barbara

24. When cashiers automatically give me the senior discount without asking if I am eligible !

    Reply to Michi Raab

25. I get a kick out of people calling me “Honey” when doing something for me. The first few times shook me up but then I realized they think they’re helping an old lady out and it makes them feel good. Who am I to deny them that? Just because I’m abler both mentally and physically than some of them is no excuse to reject their kindness.

    Reply to Patricia Garnett

    1. Well said…Amen!

       Reply to Tim Johnson

26. All the humorous comments have brightened my day. Great to see the wonderful spirits speaking their mind here. When I was 80, I had an open birthday party for all my neighbors and I got a reverse mortgage based on what I thought was my last hurrah. That was when I imagined that I was getting older. I’m 87 now and still looking for purpose each day. I could have been wrong about being old at 80.

    Reply to Farrell Kenimer

27. When I was waiting in a sports shoe shop to be served. No one else was in the shop and the staff did’t appear to see me until I spoke up. Must have been the “invisibility cloak” that I was wearing (grey hair).

    Reply to Beatrix Druery

    1. This has happened to me too!

       Reply to Dolores

28. when I started a new job and everyone was in there 20s or so, barely starting their families and work life. Here I am, with 3 years to go before applying for Social Security benefits.

    Reply to Carol

29. I am at home to be safe from the virus and I use my computer to entrain myself. Senior Planet always has something to connect me to reality with a smile.

    Reply to Vivian S. Campbell

30. When the President of the United States became a peer figure rather than a father figure….

    Reply to Blair Fielding

31. You realized you process slower, you have to ask someone to repeat something, they speaker louder. They think you are old and deaf.

    Reply to Dee

32. I moved into a Senior Living Center and aged 20 years as soon as I signed the papers. May leave.

    Reply to Bob

    1. After nine years I left a retirement community. It is possible though it requires an initial readjustment at giving up the services and conveniences.

       Reply to Pat

    2. That’s really SAD Bob, Good Luck my man.

       Reply to Allen

    3. GET out!!

       Reply to Tim Johnson

    4. Bob, you are right. Leave before you experience any additional decline. Do this instead:

       With the average cost for nursing home care being $275.00 per day, there is a better way when we get old and too feeble .
       I’ve already checked on reservations at The FAIRFIELD.
       For a combined long term stay discount and senior discount, it’s $79.00 per night.
       Breakfast is included, and some have happy hours In the afternoon.
       That leaves $196.00 a day for lunch and dinner in any restaurant we want, or room service, laundry,
       Gratuities and special TV movies.
       Plus, they provide a spa, swimming pool, a workout room, a lounge and washer dryer, etc.
       Most have free toothpaste and razors, and all have free shampoo and soap.
       $10 worth of tips a day you’ll have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
       They treat you like a customer, not a patient.
       There’s a city bus stop out front, and seniors ride free.
       The handicap bus will also pick you up
       (if you fake a decent limp).
       To meet other nice people, call a church bus on Sundays.
       For a change of scenery, take the airport shuttle bus and eat at one of
       The nice restaurants there.
       While you’re at the airport, fly somewhere.
       Otherwise, the cash keeps building up.
       It takes months to get into decent nursing homes. Marriott will take your reservation today.
       And you’re not stuck in one place forever — you can move from Marriott to Marriott, or even from city to city.
       Want to see Hawaii ? They have COURTYARD there too.
       TV broken? Light bulbs need changing? Need a mattress replaced? No problem. They fix everything, and apologize for the inconvenience.
       The Marriott has a night security person and daily room service. The maid checks to see if you are ok. If not, they’ll call an ambulance . . . Or the undertaker.
       If you fall and break a hip, Medicare will pay for the hip, and Marriott will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.
       And no worries about visits from family. They will always be glad to find you, and probably check in for a few days mini vacation.
       The grand-kids can use the pool.
       What more could I ask for?

       Reply to Barb

       1. Oh Barb THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this extraordinary offer at $79 per day! In what city is Fairfield? It seems you’re talking about the Marriott Hotels? And this is in the present, not in the past? Do they offer this paradise in all cities? Though I’m very happy in my building paying moderate Section 8 rent, I’d love to live in a place like the one you describe. I’ll call the Marriott Hotel to find out. THANKYOU again for your generous sharing! :)

       2. That’s a GENIUS idea!

       3. You nailed it Barb!

    5. Leave. Do it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

       Reply to Dianne Murphy

33. When I started letting my hair go gray, people offered me a seat on the subway more often. So I decided not to go back to coloring my hair since sitting was way better than standing for an hour on a crowded train .

    Reply to Viviane Hays

    1. And they are nicer to you with gray hair

       Reply to Dee

    2. Thanks for being honest about that-

       Reply to Pamela Lancaster

34. My mother is 96 yrs old and does not consider herself in the group of “old people.” Her jobs at my sister’s home is to pay household bills, wash dishes and take the elevator downstairs to pick up the mail. Her biggest joy is writing letters to grandchildren, grand and great-grand nieces and nephews who write to her. She does a “sit and be fit” excercise program a couple of times a week. She tells me and my sister that we still “look good” in our “40s”. And of course I don’t dispute her (I’m in my 70’s). My mom has no intention of slowing down and neither do I! So, in order to keep up with her I will have to flatly deny that I’m getting older!!

    Reply to Eileen C Young

35. When a new young employee addressed me as “Ma’am”.

    Reply to Ruby in Manhattan

36. I remember Abbey Road. Rotary phones. Prell. The 3rd Avenue Elevated Train on 3rd Avenue. (4 when it was dismantled). Buying my father a pack of Pall Malls for 10 cts. Manners for young people!! My hair!

    Reply to Robert Davis

37. Used to be there were “kids” then “people my age” then “old people”. Now, there’s just kids.

    Reply to Rachel

    1. When what people are studying in history, we remember.
       Who was Tricky Dick.
       I always remember my dad saying, “You never know when you’re well off “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
       You don’t know what you don’t know.
       Maybe it’s better that way,

       Reply to Martin E. Gross

38. When young people mention my age fifteen times in an afternoon

    Reply to Anick

39. Claire Caron – heck – when you are older then your boss’s parents! LOL!

    Reply to Suma Glassman

    1. This pandemic, gave me a ‘rude awakenings, when they mentioned Seniors ’60’ are high risk. 65 and over are senios. Lol.

       Sharing with friends, how we are now sounding like our parents.

       Loving this new season in my life.

       Reply to Eva

40. When my boss was younger than me.

    Reply to Claire Caron