Guest Blogger: Melinda Applegate

[EDITORIAL NOTE: Melinda Applegate doesn't keep a blog, but she's been reading TGB for a long time and has done such an amazing job of regularly forwarding interesting news stories, many of which have been the instigations for Time Goes By posts, that I had to give her a credit on the right sidebar as the official TGB researcher. Today she writes her own piece: Musings on Aging.]

With the help of the inspired insight offered by Ronni in her wonderful TGB blog, I’ve been contemplating “what it’s really like to get older” pretty seriously this past year. Although I don’t write a blog of my own, I am honored that Ronni asked me to contribute as a guest blogger while she’s busy attending the SXSW Conference, AND looking for new digs in Portland, Maine. Ronni said the only prerequisite is that I write something to do with the elderly or growing older. So here I sit trying to belatedly put something together – and I’ve decided to add something new to something old.

I retired a year ago and moved from Washington DC back home to sunny California, and since (finally) getting settled in my new home and getting used to everyday being a Saturday, I’ve earnestly been making the transition into retirement. Along with that has come the sometimes more challenging part of coming to terms with (and accepting the facts of) “aging”, both good and not so good. For me, the physical aspects of aging have been much more difficult than the psychological and philosophical aspects.

One thing I’ve fully realized is that I really want to stick around here on this spectacular planet earth for a good many more years and be healthy enough to fully enjoy those years. If the speed of the passing of the last five years is any indication, I’ll be 60 before I know it, so I knew I had to start taking better care of my health or I may not be around much longer. So forget all the fancy trips and cruises and so forth – I hired a personal trainer instead, put myself on a diet, quit smoking, started swimming laps and visiting the gym regularly. This first year of retirement is totally dedicated to improving my health and nothing else.

It’s sad that I waited until retirement to take action and that during my pre-retirement years I didn’t focus on my health, but I always failed to do so – I guess the 3 hour commutes and 9 hour days and all the ups and downs of life just got in the way of taking care of me – there was my Mom to take care of (she’s since passed away), there was my marriage to work on (it’s since dissolved) and there was my house and yard to keep up (since lost too). So at the end of my career I realized I only had me, myself, and I to take care of, and I’d neglected that person’s needs long enough. But it isn’t too late!

So, the not so good part about getting older is that you can no longer put off getting physically fit and healthy – our bodies are amazing and have incredible recuperative powers, but if you go too many years neglecting and abusing your health as I have, the older body just starts breaking down. So the not so good news is you have to work really hard to get and stay strong and healthy – it’s not as easy as it was years ago. But the hard work is paying off!

The great part about getting older though is so wonderful it’s hard to describe, it is so grand, but I will try. It’s the psychological part – the great mental awareness of us older people. It is the absence of fear, it is the feeling of confidence that you can handle just about anything life throws at you, and it’s the wisdom, grace and experience of all those years that have molded you into the strong and confident individual that you are now. It’s just grand to be so darn comfortable in this ever-more wrinkly old skin. It’s like feeling warm and snug in my own shoes. You see, I’m really enjoying this adventure of living in my late 50’s and I know, I am absolutely sure, that the 60’s and the 70’s and maybe even the 80’s will be just as enjoyable and full of life.