B10 The New Milford Times, New Milford, Conn., Friday April 25, 1997
GOLDEN YEARS
By Terri Andersen CONTRIBUTING WRITER
So, what’s it like to be a senior citizen? And how did I get to be one already? I remember the first time my husband and I were regarded as “seniors.” We were still in our 50s and had stopped at a chain restaurant for breakfast while we were on vacation. When the young (very young) waitress asked us if we’d like to see the senior citizen menu, we looked at each other in horror. Senior citizens? Us? But then we experienced what I guess you could call “mixed emotions.” We didn’t like the world acknowledging that we were getting old, but hey, we could get a discount on our meal. So we politely said, “Yes, please.” That was our first experience of this latest stage in our life, and by now we’ve come to terms with it. After all, graying hair and wrinkles are just as much a part of the living process as baby teeth, first steps, adolescence, and all those other steps that are a part of aging, which, if you think about it, really starts the minute we’re born into this world. We go from baby to toddler to student to employee, possibly to marriage, to parenthood and grand parenthood, and before we know it, we’ve become a senior citizen. Where did all the time go? How come that face in the mirror got so old: Where did all those wrinkles come from: How come that hair got so gray and lifeless? That’s not the real me. The real me is still young and full of life, still full of plans for things to do and places to see. Having just recently come into the stage of Social Security and retirement, I think senior citizenship takes a little adjustment. Being a mother and a working woman was a full-time job; there was very little time to spend on traveling, learning French, writing stories, painting pictures, playing the piano, reading books, sewing, etc., so all that was mostly relegated to “the future.” A few years ago I remember telling a friend that hopefully I’d get to do all those things in my next life, and her remark was, “I’ve heard of people putting things off but never that long!” So now I have the time to do all the things I want to do. Do I get to do them? As I said, I think retirement takes a little adjustment. Sometimes I don’t know where to begin. One day I say I’ll paint a picture today, but then I see the oven needs cleaning. So what wins out? The oven! We’re having company this weekend, and I don’t want to catch fire from some baked-on grease from the last time I used the oven. The next day I say I’ll read the book I got for a gift, but then my daughter comes to visit with my granddaughter and I figure the book can wait a little longer. Babies grow so fast, and they’re so cute! Tomorrow, I’m definitely going to start that exercise routine I got a video for. And try that new recipe a friend gave me. And call that old friend I promised to write to last year. Then there’s the New Milford Senior Center. They have so many things on the agenda. I want to take them all in. Classes in art, ceramics, line dancing; exercise sessions, bingo and scrabble, holiday parties, guest speakers on subjects I’d really like to know more about, etc. How does one get to fit it all in? I guess I have to learn to prioritize better and not procrastinate so much. From the looks of it, a lot of things I want to do may still have to wait for the next stage of life in the great beyond.
Terri Andersen is a New Milford resident who worked at The New Milford
Times in the 1970s.
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