Who ARE all these old people and where did they come from? You see them everywhere. They are on T.V. in commercials, in magazine advertisements, at restaurant, at the doctor's office and almost everywhere you look. There are so many of them. Who are they and why are they here and thick as flies? I don't know.
Don't get me wrong, I always have liked old people. I belong to a group of golfers who play golf on Tuesday and you have to be over 50 to join the club. Most of these guys are old, really old like over 55. One guy in our group-and I won't mention any names-is listed on the passenger manifest of the Mayflower. Another gentleman who plays on Tuesday and is a member of our Senior's Club is retired Air Force. I wouldn't call him old but I think he fought at Yorktown with General Washington and knew Lafayett. Well, maybe he's not that old. The rallying cry in the course clubhouse after we all finish our rounds is not "That was a great round of golf" but "Please pass the Blue Imu." Welcome to the temple of ancient aching muscles. Some guys even walk the course, but don't worry we always have a paramedic and ambulance on call. They are a great bunch of guys and I love them all, but I probably will catch it for calling them old. Oh well, it is what it is.
I needed new glasses so I went to the optomotrist to get a new pair. It seems as though my seventy two year old eyes need to be adjusted. He did an examination on my eyes and said I needed my new lenses I had done for my cataracts cleaned. He also said I needed a proceedure because I had some diabetic issues with my eyes. He strongly suggested that I go to my regular doctor and get a referral to an opthamoogist to take a look at my eyes and get my optic issues looked at and fixed. I went to my regular doctor for a checkup and eceived a referral to the eye doctor. The eye doctor's office contactacted me and we set up an appointment.
I walked in the door of the eye doctor's office the time of my appointment and sat down, breaiking down and stowing my walker. OK, I didn't come in with my walker that I haven't used for a couple of weeks. I just said that because-I don't know why I mentioned the walker but I did use a walker for a few weks after my heart attack. I looked around the waiting room and guess what. It was filled with old people, very old people.
There was a T.V. on playing streaming episodes of The Adams Family. Everyone in the room knew each of the characters and Lurch came out before he even said it, everyone in the room said "You Rang?". Also, when the hand with no body came out of the box, everyone said "Thank You Thing". That is by no means normal, and what happened next was really scary, I mean REALLY scary.
The conversation got started. "How many of you remeber Rawhide?" Another lady sitting in the corner of the room asked, " How many of you remember Sugarfoot?". The older gentleman with the cane said, "I remember watching 77, Sunset Strip.". "How many of you remember The Rifleman?" "What about My Favorite Martian?" another person added in. "I remember watching the original Bonanza in color" another person chimed in. "How many of you watched The Rebel? Johnny Huma was a rebel, he travelled alone?" These people wre not talking about the reruns streaming on TV today, but the original broadcasts.
What really made me stand up and take notice that I was in the company of real old people was when we got started talking abou the show "Sky King", and people in the waiting room not only knew the main character's name-Skylar King-but also knew the name of his airplane-The Songbird-and the name of his niece Penny who lived with him. That my friend, is part of the pure definition of being an old person.
Have you recently watched T.V? Right now is "Open Enrollment" for Medicare. Guess what, Medicare is for old people. How about that commercial for the telephone that writes the conversations on a screen for people-generally old people-who have difficulties hearin what is said on the phone. Let's not forget the commercials which are advertising walk in bath tubs. If I see John Price advertising insurance without a heath checkup for those from 55 to 85, I think my head will explode. The Del Webb Corporation advertises great living in it's retirement communities. I guess old people have a lot of money. I don't. My income is a small pension from my teaching days and my social security, along with Denise's-yes, my wife's real name as many of you know (I do really lvce her)-social security.
I graduated from high school in 1972 and recently saw a notification on Facebook that our class president was putting together a reunion for our class. The Facebook post had the invitation to the reunion and on the invitation there was a special page. It was an "In Memorium" page of those of our classmates who have passed away. It was a very long list of people I remember. I don't plan on going to the reunion but there is one thing that I am very thankful about with regards to that reunion. I am not on that "In Memorium" list. I came close a couple of times and I guess that is a good thing.
Who are all these old people and where did they come from? Where are my glasses? In a moment I am going to give this question some deep thought, but first I have to take my heart medication. I might just take a few ibuprophen for my arthritis. I would take a walk out in the nice warm outside, but I can't go far because I get out of breath easily. I did survive my widowmaker heart attack with just a few stents put in. I did play golf yesterday, but I have to watch it because my back hurts form the arthritis as well as my legs. Hey wait a minute, I'm seventy-two years old at this writing. Maybe I am an old person-never mind.
