Turning 70

Turning 70 is one of those milestone birthdays which puts you definitely in the category of ‘elderly’ or ‘senior citizen’, and so many other terms for just plain old! One of the benefits of being old is that if you are lucky you will get that coveted front seat on the bus! You get to reminisce about the past and the ‘good old days’ and with the passing of time and fading memory if you are lucky you will remember the good things and conveniently forget about the not so good.

Having been born in 1953 I have lots of good memories about growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. I remember playing outside on a summer’s day with complete freedom and needing no adults to keep a constant vigil to make sure we were ‘safe’. We had the run of the neighborhood and we somehow survived. We would rush inside for lunch and dinner and then run back outside to play until dusk which growing up in Vancouver, Canada would mean playing outside until 9 or 10 p.m. Back then we only had our imagination to limit us and it was a magical time to be a child.

Now that I am 70 I don’t have to feel guilty about the luxury of an afternoon nap or just staying home if that’s what I want to do. Being retired, I am free from office politics and trying to please the boss and fitting in everything I want to do in a weekend that goes by way too fast. Of course, on the flip side I have to deal with the aches and pains of old age, poor eyesight and poor hearing and the loss of loved ones. Like everything, old age brings its share of positives and negatives and in the end it is still a matter of balance – balancing the good with the bad and just living in the moment.