Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old: A Highly Judgmental, Unapologetically Honest Accounting of All the Things Our Elders Are Doing Wrong by Steven Petrow
It’s written by a gay man who just got divorced as he was writing the book. He talks about how he is reflecting on his mortality and vowing not to do certain things when he gets old. Things like not wearing a hearing aid when he starts to go deaf or not expecting people to take care of him when he’s dying or using a walker if he needs one. Pretty much things that inconvenienced him about this parents and other older people he knows.
As I read it, I thought that I too had vowed not to do certain things as I got older. I remember telling myself when I was very young that when I got older, I would not have long hair. At the time, I felt that shorter hair looked better on older women. But as I age, it’s too much trouble to cut my hair often enough to keep it short, so it has grown quite long.
I’m sure there are other things I vowed not to do as I grew older that I’m now doing. When you’re young, you don’t realize that people who are older are doing things for a reason. . . mostly because they don’t care and it’s convenient for them.
What did you vow that you wouldn’t do when you got old that you now do?
I honestly can’t recall saying I wouldn’t do anything as I aged.
Heck, I’m just glad I did…age!
I have kept my hair longer, cos I don’t care what anybody thinks.
I wear what I’m comfy in, cos again, I don’t care what anybody thinks.
Ah, hang on, I did say I was not going to act like an oldie!
And I haven’t. And won’t!
Sorry, I really haven’t added anything have I?
But I’m really not sorry for that!
I am fit for my age and don’t need any walking or hearing aids ( pardon ?)
However if necessary I would .
I see very old people using walkers and I applaud them they are still going out getting their own shopping and walking albeit slowly .
Yet I know some people who have difficulty in walking who refuse to use them ( they make me look like an old woman one said ) as the lady in question is 84 she is an old woman - one who laments she can’t walk as before so stays in but can walk around a supermarket leaning on the trolley .
So when I need it I shall use one and when I can’t use that any more I shall buy a jazzy little mobility scooter and make a public nuisance of my self on pavements !
I said I will never play golf until I can’t get on a horse .
I still can get on a horse so ( thank goodness ) the spectre of golf is held at bay ,
Oh my, I could have written this! My mate and I really do have a list of what we’re not going to do and we’ve promised to remind each other and we keep adding to it!
Moaning, not wearing hearing aids, talking about your tablets, not switching on your mobile, making that funny noise when you stand up all feature. About 50 items on the list so far
talking about ailments yet when I meet friends these days all we do is compare arthritic joints, poor eyesight, who has the highest blood pressure, aches and pains. The conversation used to be about what a good time we had at the pub/clubs now it’s what a great time we had under the duvet watching netflix.
To be honest I love those duvet days busy doing nothing
I vowed never to be that woman who confiscated the kids football when it was accidentally kicked in their garden…
I can’t tell you if I am her these days because kids don’t seem to play outside like they used to…I can’t put myself to the test but I like to think I’m not her.
I remember my mother in law always talking about who had died recently…she got the local paper just to check the obituaries…I’ve not got to that stage yet…but there’s time
Mum in law would tell me who had died…then a whole history of that persons life…I had no idea who she was talking about having never met them…I used to try and intervene and say no I don’t know that person but it made no difference to her I still got the whole history
I recall hearing that one too, it certainly brings back many memories – including winkle-picker shoes!
The Who - My Generation
After an extensive search of You Tube I couldn’t find the other one you mention John Wayne). However, this more recent one seemed to be very popular on there, although definitely not my kind of music:
Endless discussions about when it was we did this, what year was it we went to that place, who was with us when we saw such and such show, on and on and on remembering which year it was and where and what and who!!!
My cuz and I used to roll our eyes at the grown-ups conversation, we swore we’d never ever do that thing!!
Me too Danny, me too and many times. However, I did get two offspring out of that,
they were only good things I can write about that awful episode of my life.
Since then I now say “never again” and really do mean it!
No children here. Personal choice for me and my wife. Would I marry again. Well I said no once and wound up married for 20 years. So I’ll take the fifth instead of answering. Answering is too dangerous.
I only made eight years and was well ripped-off when everything was ‘settled’ five years later. You would not believe how the UK law can be manipulated to work against a person who was not the cause of a marriage break-up!
Your ‘taking the fifth’ is well understood, after all you are probably very much younger than me, plus with you not having any children there are not those to complicate anything in the future.
HaHa I wasn’t referring to a pop song, just an expression used … thought it might have been John Wayne (hard assed cowboy) who said it but google suggests Errol Flynn.
