I was just sharing with a friend how important it is at our time of life to get out and be with other people. It's how we can fight the blue meanies. And I found this year it doesn't even have to be people I already know, when going daily to the senior lunch reduced-rate program. I was making new friends who I wouldn't have run into otherwise, since many of them had polar opposite views on things. Good for me, good for everyone!
Plus once I started attending lunch at the Lakeview Center for Active Aging, I was more interested in some of their other programs, and now attend weekly sit-n-b-fit and chair yoga sessions. Lunch costs $1.50 with the Council on Aging subsidizing it, and exercise and other programs are free. Incidentally, our lunches are catered by a local Asheville restaurant, The Moose Café.
And then there's Lake Tomahawk with water fowl and a path to walk around...as well as people walking dogs of every imaginable breed. I have loved taking photos of the lake in different seasons too.
December 2022
Spring 2024 Canada Goose and Cherry Tree at slightly drained Lake for construction work on dam
Summer 2023 looking south from the gazebo
Autumn looking at the lake, 2023
Last week with a crane helping the dam repairs in the distance. But notice the lake is full of water again!
I often plan a lunch outing with friends who don't go to the Lakeview Center at least once a week. I'm so glad to have made some close friends from my church and from the Clay studio. My interests are always given a boost by seeing and sharing with them.
I admit to not attending church as often these days, since I've lived here almost 17 years and that used to be more important for my socialization. I remember well how I'd look forward to coffee hour after the service (was that the main reason I went?) Then the pandemic gave us the double-whammy of virtual church services, and we lost the chance to mingle and discuss whatever was on our minds afterward.
I hope my friends who are higher than me on the ladder of life, one just turned 90 and the other best friend is 84...will continue to share their insights and humor with us. Gosh, their humor is certainly something to be around! Maybe that's a lesson to us all.
My message to folks in their 60s is to take advantage of everything you can and want to do. It gets harder to keep doing everything you want in your 70s, or to recuperate from injuries or illness. Enough said.
Today's quote:
Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.
—Nikola Tesla
...it beats what's in second place.
ReplyDeleteAn alternative being, not turning 81 at all! Well lived lives can stop at any point, so it's the quality not quantity of years that matters most, I'm proposing.
DeleteThe 70s are certainly more difficult that the 60s, so I can imagine that it ain't gonna get better in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteWhen I tried to convey that to my 60s friends, they thought I was focusing on the past rather than the now. So I quit. They'll figure it out eventually.
DeleteI sure hear you, Barbara! Even my kids are complaining about aches and pains. It get harder. Plus motivation is lacking. That and attention span, for me!
ReplyDeleteI cannot socialize much any more. I have no patience for nonsense.
You asked:
'Now I must ask (though answers don't seem to happen) is a cotton tail the same as a labbit?'
And Labbit is the name we give all our bunnies. (It's what one of the grandies called them.) The cottontail is one species but we have hares too. Calling them all Labbit is easier as I don't get corrected that way.
I never could tell bunnies apart either...maybe because they are never near each other to help me learn. Jack rabbits? I wonder if that's yet another kind. Thanks for explaining Labbit. It works very well. I do sometimes not say a word at lunch, then I might say, what are you reading, if with some people. Others it's fun to remember something from way back when.
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara, While we're not real social animals, my wife and I still feel the need to get out and mix it up with others...especially when we realize that most of our social interactions these days are medically related...doctors, therapy, specialists, dentists, ophthalmologists, etc. We do appreciate our friendly neighbors too! We find some difficulty in socializing with folks whose opinions are fixed and who become rabid when you offer a different viewpoint...sad state of mind when you can't talk about differences in a civil and respectful manner. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
ReplyDeleteI early on decided to not sit at what I call the "Christian table" at lunch, where Bible discussion or various political topics were favored. I have several friends there from being in the exercise classes with them, however...so we do have that in common. Our round tables usually hold 8, and I prefer to sit near the entrance, rather than where there's a view. Now that's a bit strange I think, for me. Anyway, I've a couple of acquaintances who I see often, but only one of whom I've spent time with outside the lunch program. I do hear you about Dr.s and so forth. But they are paid to be non-committal and friendly!
DeleteI can discuss stories in the Bible, having a good solid Christian Science Sunday School upbringing. But I won't indulge in the Christian right politics, and prefer to avoid those stressful discussions.
DeleteBeautiful scenes. I have been a hermit compared to you.
ReplyDeleteLive as you feel best...there's no reason anyone should do otherwise.
DeleteYou are so right, Barbara, getting out and socializing with others is a great way to keep your mind active and the chair yoga can help your body as well. I continue to rise early and walk on the gym treadmill for an hour each day and so far I do not have any issues with knees or hips like so many others in my age troupo (mid 70s) and even younger.
ReplyDeleteDear Barbara,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you are active and do things with friends and also with people you don't yet know.
They say getting older isn't for cowards, but I think it's important to make the aging process as comfortable as possible. And humor is clearly a very, very important thing, regardless of whether you're young or old - if one can't laugh, even if it's sometimes not that easy for health reasons or for other reasons, this person is making life unnecessarily difficult for him- or herself.
You're right, people around 60 should take advantage of their opportunities and maybe even fulfill one or two dreams. In this context, thank you very much for your kind words about our trip around the world! We are actually people who try to enjoy life as much as possible, but also look reality in the dripping eye. Our plan is to move into a retirement home around 2030, when I will be around 70 and my husband will be 75. In this way, we are also trying to avoid loneliness in old age.
Your photos of the lake are wonderful!
All the best and a good start into May, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2024/04/weltreise-2024-2-station-sydney.html