I bit the bullet and joined AARP. My excuse was less than noble — I’m getting a nice discount on something. I remember telling you that the invitation to join arrived just after my 50th birthday. I was pissed and threw it in the garbage. How dare they!!
But these people find you. They send you stuff, sample magazines, mail showing big discounts for things you normally buy. The price was a measly $12. I spend that much money on some coffee to keep my old body awake!
So, I started thinking: What else might this organization give me other than a card and some discounts? Can they get me a fake ID? I’ve never had one and I noted that there are more discounts for the over 65 group – any of my over 65-year-old friends want to lend me their ID?
So, after filling out the application, having the computer give me the spinning color wheel during the process (only fitting that the computer would slow down and get caught up as I’m trying to join the old person’s club), I came up with reasons (justifications) for why getting older is Grrrreat (as Tony the Tiger would say … showing my age again?):
1. Being older brings more confidence than when we were younger. Less anxiety and less need to prove ourselves. We are not afraid to try something new.
2. We are sharper, smarter, stronger (sorry kids, but I really believe this … and will until I go!).
3. We can talk about our ailments (including our intestinal issues) out in the open and know that most of our friends have the same thing! We don’t even notice that we fart any more.
4. We are cooler thinkers (we don’t rush to judgment) but we are hotter in our passion (sorry again, kids … adults, you know what I’m talking about (s$# is better with age!)).
5. We are actually willing to consider the possibility that we’re wrong. This is really a gift of old(er) age!
6. We are much more conscious of the little things people do — the driver who stops and lets me cross the street, the newspaper man who brings my paper directly to the door when he sees that I’m up. We are more gracious and we understand that we really are zero by ourselves.
7. Grandkids (no hurry to my kids, but just know I’m counting on it!).
8. We no longer have to justify every dime we spend. And, we have more dimes to spend!
9. We have more fun stories (I have at least 195 of them now!) and our hearing is so bad that we can’t hear all the stories our friends want to tell us (or we’re in the bathroom when they’re talking!).
10. We enjoy every day of life and don’t feel the need to rush it along to get to the “next” thing.
So, now I’m a card-carrying AARP member. I’m happy to share my discount on Depends, which came in the mail yesterday!
Have a great day!
theyearof50 