July 23, 2021 Edition

Knowing When to Retire

Socks did it for me.
By Barry Knister
     As always before my first morning class, I’m sitting in my swivel chair in my office sipping coffee. I cross my legs and see for the first time — the first time I can remember — that I’m wearing mismatched socks.

They aren’t disturbingly mismatched — orange with purple, say, or green with heliotrope. One’s navy, the other dark gray. But there they are, mismatched socks sprouting up from my shoes as someone’s ring tone goes off outside my open door.

Hypersensitivity to Ageism

Is this a typical phase of aging?
By Dana Dobson

Shifting Gears in My Seventies

It’s okay to let bucket lists go with no regrets.
​By Carole Olsen
​     My 65th birthday is in August, and I’m in fierce denial that I’m “old.” The outside world, however, tells me otherwise — pretty much daily now — through innocent words and actions. I continue to take umbrage, but I pretend not to notice.

But I do keep inventory on what people say and do, allowing their commentary to grind away in my head.    

An Octogenarian Speaks

So listen up, kids.
​By Tom Phillips
   I read the stories in Crow’s Feet because I like to know what younger people are thinking. Right now there seems to be a wave of anxiety among Baby Boomers, as you turn 60 or 70.

I turned 79 and 1/2 this week, and decided since I’m closer to my 80th birthday than any other, I’ll just be 80. It’s the age of Wisdom. 
     A few days ago, I was planning to climb Mt La Conte in Tennessee for a second time. It didn’t happen. What did happen was that I admitted to myself I didn’t like to tent camp anymore.

For the past two years, I have left camping trips early, making excuses, “it’s too cold, it’s rainy, or I’ve done all I can do here.”

​I Just Turned 60: I Didn’t Wake Up Dead Today

And that's a great start to my birthday!
By Charles H. Roast
     Yes, my lovelies. I turned 60 today. I am alive and sorta kicking. Well, I was when I wrote this last night. But, hey! That’s what we old folks call an optimistic attitude. I am optimistic that I will wake up tomorrow morning alive and achy from all the old people pain I have.

They say old is a “state of mind.” 

July 9, 2021 Edition

What a Mature Woman Learned From a Navy Seal

​Embrace the suck and become a “Beast.”
By Julie Ranson

Do you have to be a beast every day? Yes. Yes, you do.
​
What is a beast? Historically, calling a person a beast denoted something negative like they’re rude, crude, and unacceptable. But more contemporary jargon employs the descriptive term, beast, as a compliment for someone who performs at the highest levels.
​
So, indeed, you should be a beast every day. I learned incredible lessons about being a beast when I read Embrace the Suck by Brent Gleeson, a bonafide Navy Seal.

What Is It With Young Women and Grey Hair in Stock Photos?

Please stop usurping our silver locks.
By Carol Lennox
I search for pictures of lovely older women with silver hair for a story I’m writing about, you guessed it, older women. Write what you know. Right?

How are women my actual age represented in stock photos on a platform that shall remain nameless because of licensing with another platform I would never intentionally offend? As overly wrinkled crones. Seriously. Go check it out. I’ll wait.

Are You an Online Senior Dating?

Meet My First Companion, Lorem Ipsum.
​By Lee J. Bentch
I signed up with an online dating app for Seniors. It’s a fun learning experience. I figured out how to swipe left, swipe right, clap, smile, connect up, have an excellent time, break up, move on, all the exciting things associated with getting out there again.
​
It’s been a few years since my wife passed. I figured it’s time to stretch my arms and get social again.

You Might Be Retired If...

How to spot a retiree.
By David Martin
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy has made a nice living from his shtick “You might be a redneck if…….” As in, “You might be a redneck if you’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws.”
​
What Mr. Foxworthy has done for rednecks, I’d like to do for retired guys. As a retired guy, I’ve begun to notice that most of us have similar traits, characteristics and lifestyles. Thus, you might be retired if:

My Young Visitor Said Her Mother Was Old

Her mother is my age, but I knew what she was saying.
By Ruby Lee
Everyone has heard the old saying. You know the one that goes, “Age is nothing but a number.” Well, tell that to my knees!

But I know what it is supposed to mean. You see plenty of seniors who are young at heart, and then you see the seniors who are just old and like being old. My son invited a young couple to our house on the 4th of July.

June 25, 2021 Edition

Wrinkle Free? That's Not Me

Wrinkles are badges we have earned.
​By ​​Margie Hord de Mendez
 Once, when I was in my 40’s, a photographer took my picture for a passport, and upon seeing the results, I hardly recognized that person! Before the days of Photoshop, he had smoothed out my face to remove the expression lines. My reaction: That’s not me!

We don’t usually love our wrinkles and, since then, I’ve collected a few more… or the same ones have deepened. Yet, that experience made me realize that at the same time, like our often-undercover gray hairs, they are badges we’ve earned. They tell a story.

Challenged to Honor the “In Sickness” Part 

It might come sooner than you think.​
​By ​Marie A. Bailey
     In February 2001, I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I was 43 and scared shitless of cancer. My husband was scared too, but kept it to himself for the most part. I was freaking out. Somebody had to stay calm and it was him. That March, I underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy as treatment. Fortunately, my recovery was swift and uneventful.

I'm Retired and I Don't Want to Travel

There, I've said it. I don't want to travel.
​By Orrin Onken
I don’t want to buy an RV and see the country. I don’t want to visit the Galapagos. I don’t want to cruise the rivers of Europe. 

​I recently retired from practicing law. I liked working. I ran my own office, got to do things my way, and earned a lot of money. But it was always work, and I never mistook it for anything else

Ageless Love

A poem.
​By ​Jaylee Reign
​antiquated love
memories of eras past
teetering precariously on life’s edge
yet still I turn on
for those who notice
my fine form
hidden in dusty corners

I'm Going to Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair

And send him on his way. Mitzi Gaynor in South Pacific​
​By Carol Lennox ​​
My mother was a lover of musicals. Specifically, sappy musicals full of love songs. South Pacific had love songs galore, but it wasn’t sappy.

June 10, 2021 Edition

Does Life Get Easier With Age?

Or do challenges just change?
​By Tess Wheeler 
​We live in such a youth-orientated world, we’re often made to feel past our sell-by dates as we hit middle-age and beyond. Popular culture is mainly aimed at people in their teens and twenties. The media, fashion, music, and leisure — by fifty-plus, we’re no longer the target audience.​

Stepping Stones

By Carol Price
I chose to walk across the stepping stones.
​I carefully placed one foot in front of the other as I crossed the living water. There was a slight wobble from time to time, but that’s OK. No one is expected to get it entirely right on every occasion.

My Journey to Accepting my Age 

What will your journey be? 
By Nancy Peckenham
​When I turned 58 years old it hit me. I could no longer deny I was getting old. My younger son graduated from high school that year and I was already sealing off empty rooms at home. I had just sold my small online news business and I had no plans to start another venture. I secretly wanted to be hired by an established media outlet that would value my experience, but I knew that was never to be.

It's the Little Moments

By Joe Wheeler
​If you look at the pictures on the walls of peoples homes, you would assume that it’s the big events that matter. You may see pictures that commemorate the birth of a child, that child’s first steps, the year they won the science fair competition, etc. You may see wedding pictures and graduation pictures...

Must Our Sex Lives Die Before We Do? 

Sex doesn’t have to stop after any age but recognizing and responding to its challenges is necessary
By David Mokotoff
​“Do you believe in same sex marriage?” a man was asked. “Of course I do,” he responded. “I have been married to the same woman for 40 years and we have been having the same sex for all of those years” This old joke takes on more significance as we age.