As we grow older and sometimes wiser, we find things we did not know about or even cared to learn about. We find those “golden years” which we have looked forward to are really not that great.
With them comes illness, being tired a lot, not wanting to get out of bed sometimes, and putting on a few extra pounds. We find out those clothes we thought we would use the rest of our lives have to be replaced.
Your eating habits change, too, because of losing your teeth and not being able to afford new dentures, along with the reflux you get from certain foods.
As for friends, only the true ones will have the gumption to tell you that you stink and could use a bath. The ones who laugh and make fun of you are not true friends and, really, you can do without them.
And the money you have been saving so that you can live close to the way you did in the early years seems to not be enough for you. You go out to find a job, and you are told there just isn’t too much available in the job field.
Then there are the young ones who always say, “Grandpa, it really wasn’t like that, was it?” Kids just don’t want to believe we and those before us actually had to work for what we received. In today’s world, there are many young folk, along with an alarming number of folks my age, who think the hand should be out to receive and not to work with.
So as we enter the golden years, are we better or worse off? We should be, because no more do you have to rise at the early hours of the day, nor do you have to stay with a certain task for eight hours like it was in earlier times. No more packing a lunch to eat at a time set forth by your boss, and then find out that some things are not in the bag. No more breathing the air that is full of smoke.
Oh wait, there are still those out there who are filling our air with their smoking. So, as we grow older, we still have those things that linger on and play a drastic happening to our bodies and those we love.
When we really get down to some heavy thought, we have not changed things that much. Our golden years will still be ones we love, because it is what we have waiting for all those working years. We take it one day at a time, and we enjoy our lives the same.
As we grow older in years, we wonder what we could have done differently and, really, what we did was live our lives, supported our families and kept the bills paid. Maybe what we have to show for it is what it should be.
We took life and we lived it. We treasure all the memories that came with those years and, darn it, if that wasn’t enough, then go sit in the corner and feel the closeness of the two walls around you. Get out of that corner and enjoy the time you have left, because it can be the best time of all.
We are weak, but we are strong in the thoughts that life was given to us to enjoy and not to let it go by way of thoughts of despair. One day at a time, with the thought at the end of the day, that we made the most of it. Love life to the highest, and let God bless.
Ray “Uncle Ray” Day is a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. Contact him at uncleray@earthlink.net.
Opinion
February 2, 2013
Day: Those ‘golden years’
- Opinion
-
- Love grows in garden Thanks to volunteers at the Community Garden near Ivy Tech, local community kitchens and residential centers get fresh, healthy vegetables for their patrons.
- June 19, 2013: Letters to the editor Let residents vote on wind farm issue As the wind farms, with all the controversy around them, approach the Greentown area, it makes one wonder what brought them here to begin with? With the number of people who live in the country, and with some of
-
House of Burgess: War on Christmas, summer edition
“Surrounded by sleigh bell-ringing Santa Claus impersonators, Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday signed a law protecting Christmas and other holiday celebrations in Texas public schools from legal challenges — but also stressed that freedom of religion is not the same thing as freedom from religion,” reported Will Weissert of the Associated Press on Friday.
-
DAVID CALL: Storm chasers must heed WX warnings
Meteorologists must remember why we chase storms.
- Open doors for women Federal law says no person, on the basis of sex, shall be excluded from any education program or activity receiving federal funding. And that's how it should be.
- June 18, 2013: Letters to the editor E.ON assurances are empty promises Since recently learning that my home is literally inside the footprint of the proposed Howard County Wildcat Wind Farm, I have been doing all I can to learn about the potential impacts the industrial wind turbines c
- MAUREEN HAYDEN: State offers new option for trying kids as adults Dual sentencing could help juvenile offenders.
- TOM LoBIANCO: Disparate Ind. pols agree ISTEP answers needed Lawmakers could seek study costs and fines from McGraw-Hill.
- June 17, 2013: Letters to the editor Notification laws wrongly waived Law once required people to notify neighbors through county officials if they wanted to change anything on their property. These laws were waived without our knowledge regarding turbines. Most here didn't know they we
- Who's caring for Hoosier kids outside the womb? Let's talk about Hoosier children. Five readings this past week really popped out. The first was a Feed America study in 21 counties in central Indiana that revealed on a daily basis, 320,000 Hoosiers -- including 100,000 kids -- don't know where the
- More Opinion Headlines
Raw: Baby White Rhino Debuts at Australian Zoo
Time Lapse: Rebuilding Bridge Post-collapse
Ohio Woman Accuses 3 of Holding Her Captive
Hunt for Ex-Teamster Boss Hoffa's Remains Ends
Aug. Trial Set for Ohio Man in Triple Kidnapping
Car Crash in NYC's East Village Injures 8
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
Raw: Car Jumps Curb in NYC, Injures 8
Unusual Heat Wave Bakes Alaska
Raw: German President Welcomes President Obama
Raw: Arizona Wildfire Scorches 8 Square Miles
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Kid Couture: Spending Big Bucks on Babies
