WHAT'S NEXT?

 It feels rather like being the lone occupant on a huge slide. You’re sitting on the very top looking down and understanding the only way off is down.

But what’s waiting along the way down?

It’s the “what next” that disturbs seniors. I use the term seniors rather than writing "persons who have achieved a super advanced age." Everyone knows more or less what a senior is.

Seniors are young-old…from 65 to 74, middle-old is anywhere from 75 to 84 years old and then there is old-old, 85 years…’Till Further Notice.

The American Geriatric Society and the World Health Organization define oldest-old as an individual over eighty while the British geriatric Society uses eighty-five as the threshold for the oldest-old among us. Which I prefer.  Still, that particular designation doesn’t remove me from the top tier. Being very old. Older than I ever thought to be. But with the experience to write about…what’s next.

By the time we reach until further notice, we’ve kicked around a bit on the Golden Years Playground. (Whatever you do, stay away from the merry-go-round. Another spot you might not be able to readily jump off.)

During these so-called Golden Years, we’ve taken meds for very dry eye, body-aching arthritis, and sky-high hypertension.

The most popular topic of discussion at early bird dinners has become Health. Our health, our neighbor’s health and the person we met yesterday in the doctor’s waiting room. (Doctors are specialists so one is not enough anymore. We may be personally acquainted with four or five waiting rooms.)

“What’s next?” Is it a huge locomotive heading down the tracks right at us?  Or an ugly case of the shingles? Have you had the shingles vaccine? (Even if your memory isn’t all it used to be, we can never forget the vaccines!)

There’s a reason for having more than one glass of wine as the possibilities are explored.

I know because I’ve been to more of these dinners - and lunches - than I care to admit and heard the concerns. Maybe voiced a few myself. There comes a point in the aging process when it seems it’s just one thing after another - and usually not in a good way. Which leaves one thing to discuss: the state of your health. Or your neighbors, or your Uncle Stan’s.

As we age, our horizons aren’t as broad as they used to be. Most of us are retired, we’ve lost our professional identity, we don’t travel as much as we used to and we don’t attend parties and concerts any longer. Inevitably, these events begin about the time our day ends.

So where do our conversations  take us? Not to politics if we care about keeping our friends.

So, when it seems like one thing after another, we all wonder. Our bodies are on the decline. Our well-used parts are wearing out. We ask ourselves and anyone who will listen, what’s next?

It might be an all-to-common broken hip. (Don’t fall! Everyone will tell you that - like you would chose to fall willingly.) Or maybe what’s next is a months’ vacation on the French Riviera. Well, dreams happen.

A sense of humor on the Golden Years playground is the best way to deal with whatever comes next.

Who knows? What’s next might come as a delightful surprise.

Every adventure in aging depends on a little bit of laughter.