Updated as of July 16, 2020

Eventually we all experience it,  a slap-in-the face reminder about getting older. My first was 10 years ago when my car was stuck in the snow – nothing too deep, and I was rocking out of it. But a car pulled up abruptly and a young man jumped out: “sit tight sir, I’ll push you out!” Sir? And he did, easily. It was just the kind of thing I used to do back in my teens and twenties. His wave goodbye clearly said, ‘Happy to help sir (old man)!’ I didn’t need help, but he thought I did.

Fast forward to last week, standing in line with my better half, Sherry, to see Murder on the Orient Express. “Two please,” I said. “Yes, sir. Two senior tickets?” I hesitated for a second, then replied, “Yes,” seeing a financial windfall. But as he punched out the tickets, my wife and I exchanged scrutinizing glances, analyzing each other for reasons that we could designated as Seniors. Both in our mid-50’s, neither of us had had this experience before. Do you ask a stranger who appears pregnant, “when are you due?” It’s fraught with danger. 

This covered us with a blanket of self-assessment over the evening. I started thinking about family history and ancestors, plenty of seniors there. I thought about receiving the AARP Magazine automatically when I turned 50. And I wondered, does the $4.00 savings help me get over it?

What about you? Have you taken a senior discount that you weren’t due? Does “Senior discount” shock or bemuse you?  Conversely, do you still need to show your ID for alcohol, even in your 30s?

REASONS TO BE HAPPY YOU’RE GETTING OLDER

This video was created two years ago, when David and I wrangled the front desk attendant at our favorite movie theater to make a cameo appearance.

In retrospect, I feel bad, because we put this young lady on the spot by requesting she appear in our video on the spot. I think she was being polite to elders, and perhaps we took advantage of that.

But the point here is that since this video, we have gotten older. For some, that can be a scary reality; but I’d invite you to consider that, as we age, while certain chapters close others do open.

In the article “How to Age Wisely” by Mo Perry over at Experience Life, he mentions that the average lifespan in 1960 was 64. That certainly stuck out for me, as I’m nearing 60. As of now, however, that average as gone up nearly 20 years.

This means that aging and what it looks like have changed considerably. People are living longer and transitioning instead to new chapters. As Perry explains in his piece, we are Modern Elders. Here is a short list of the privileges that come with this title:

1.       You’ve accomplished milestones in your life—There is so much energy and focus on getting to particular points in life during earlier years, which generally include career, family and relationships. The urge is to complete and tally goals. By your late 50s, however, you’ve likely accomplished some of them, and changed many as well, not to mention created and achieved other targets in your life. For many of us, the pressure valve of “ticking off” a list after a certain age are quite different, if not completely gone.

2.       You can still grow and change, but the focus is refreshed—Depending on your personality type, you are still eager to learn and to accomplish things, but the focus of it feels different. You may be more willing to dabble and try, and even fail and try again at this point in life.

3.       You’ve learned stuff you can apply—You know a thing or two about how you tend to operate. You have also acquired wisdom and know how to proceed. You might be able to see the whole of a situation better and adapt accordingly. And with life lessons, you can proceed with humility and make room to understand that others think differently than you.

4.       You are more in the day-to-day—time is wasting and you have less of it, so you pay more attention to the delights and marvels in the moment. Sitting and reading is more pleasing, each bite of that peach pie is more flavorful, and quiet time alone and with friends is more of a treasure. The mindset is that everyday above grass should be a good one.

5.       Looking to remain relevant—It’s not enough for many to enjoy more free time as we age; we also want to be of service. With this extra time without children, we are freed up to make a mark in lasting ways by serving others in new and interesting ways.

Aging certainly does not look anything like it appeared for those we deemed “old” in past decades. We are more active, working longer, and forging new paths as to what it means to be older.

Aging comes with challenges, of course, but there are also privileges and perks, not the least of which is the senior discount! In that spirit, I went ahead and found a robust list of discounts for the over 50 in a post over at The Senior List. Given the opportunities, it seems alright to be asked, “do you want the senior discount?”

Photo by Amel Majanovic on Unsplash

Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

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