What Keeps Us Young

I live on a street of small houses mostly built 75 to 100 years ago. Its residents are eclectic: seniors who’ve lived here for ages, young families who’ve purchased their ‘starter homes’, and because we live near a university, transient students in rental homes. There are often curb conversations about how busy the younger folk are. Occasionally we seniors chime in with what we handled (just as much, if not more) at their age, but most often we just listen and empathize.

I can remember when I was in my thirties and my Dad would telephone every Friday evening shortly after 6 o’clock (because that’s when the rates went down) to update us on what was new with him and my mother. I distinctly recall one that went something like this, “Well, nothing much is new here. The TV repair man came on Wednesday.” We were in fits of laughter. Can you imagine living a life where the most important news is that the TV repair man came?

Many of the seniors on our street are like my parents. With the exception of grocery shopping and garden tending, they literally sit in their houses all day long and watch TV. Many of them don’t cook – they either order out or snack. They don’t belong to any clubs. My husband and I shake our heads and just don’t understand it.

We think we’re busier than most people our age. My husband gets up every morning and goes to the river to talk to the fishermen and, in nice weather, spends most of his day outside with our dog and the vegetable garden. I go to yoga twice a week, try to go swimming once a week, walk the dog daily and sometimes join my better half outside. And, we’ve been involved small local issues such as going to council meetings for things that others complain about but do nothing.

I think we’re more social too. We’re one of the few older couples that socialize with the younger ones. This morning, for example, the young couple two doors down brought their two-year-old over to visit in our yard. They stayed for about 90 minutes and it was a joyful start to a Sunday. A child’s laughter is one of the best sounds on earth and this kid is always smiling and laughing. The father (he turned 32 yesterday) asked me this morning if Henry (age 75, he and his wife live 4 doors down) was okay because he hadn’t seen him in months. I replied, “Ya, he’s fine. He was out mowing his lawn a few days ago.”

That’s what initiated this blog. It hit me that other than the widow across the street (who is much like us) we don’t see the people our age out and about. It’s like they retired and gave up. What a shame.