The Golden Years: I’d Like to File a Complaint
This morning I asked Chatty (my name for ChatGPT) this question.
Me: “Golden Years. Who came up with the idea of calling “seniors” as being in their “Golden Years.” Is it too late to prosecute?”
Chatty’s answer was quite fun; he knows my sense of humor and responds in kind.
ChatGPT (alias Chatty): “The phrase “golden years” for old age seems to have become popular in the mid-20th century, especially in advertising and retirement marketing. There does not appear to be one single villain we can drag before a tribunal.”
It was basically meant to sell the idea that retirement was a reward period: leisure, travel, freedom, sunshine, golf, no alarm clock. Very postwar-America optimism.
And yes, I think the statute of limitations has probably expired.
Though I would support a symbolic hearing on charges of false advertising.
Because “golden years” can sound lovely until the reality includes medication schedules, appointments, caregiving, mobility problems, paperwork, and trying to remember why you walked into the kitchen.
A more accurate term might be:
“The Years in Which You Finally Know What Matters, but Everything Takes Longer.”
Really, quite good, don’t you think?
Maybe “Golden” Was Overselling It
What actually matters? Hmmm. Truthfully, I am still a bit stuck on what actually matters. Some days it varies quite a bit.
My husband has Parkinson’s – there is very little golden about it. At our last VA medical visit (we are both veterans – Go Navy!) I picked up a cute bookmark advertising a book that I just might get, OH CRAP! IT’S PARKINSON’S.
So far, my husband and I still maintain a good sense of humor and practicality. I don’t want to downplay advertising’s push to soft-coat a rosy spin on aging, but we tend to call it the “Crappy Years.” I came up with the term, but he agrees with me.
So far, the advertising moguls have not adopted it. But with “truth in advertising” they should seriously think about it.
My husband and I agree on a lot of things. We laugh a lot and get through these “golden days of endless sunshine” with as much “aging gracefully” as we can. Neither of us golf by the way.
It’s not that there are not a lot of “golden moments” in our lives today, but I buy into the program that every stage of life has its golden times as well as not so golden times.
We don’t check out the worries and cares of life at any age.
We don’t stop wishing we looked better, handled things better, or, you know, remembered things better.
The magic is living each stage of our life the best we can.
I remember having stomach aches from worry at eight years old because I didn’t want to go to school or that awful things might happen, and those same bits of worry pop up when I try to figure out how to get through something I don’t particularly want to get through or that in the future “awful things might happen.”
Life just is. The future doesn’t hold any promises or rose gardens without thorns.
It comes packaged with good things and bad things. It doesn’t get easier or better or golden when we become teenagers, 21, or 71.
Some Pretty Golden Things at 70 and Beyond
Here, though, are some things I appreciate at this stage in my life.
- Handicap parking. That is really, really nice. If you were to observe my parking ability you would agree I should have had this much earlier.
- Social Security, Medicare and VA benefits. I don’t know how we would manage without them.
- AARP. No kidding. They really do a lot for us golden folks.
- Getting a chair at a picnic while younger folks scramble onto wooden benches.
- Children and grandkids.
- Hearing aids. Oh, my gosh, I would feel lost without them. What? Can you repeat that?
- Glasses? Well, I have been wearing them since I was 13, but I still appreciate them.
- Smartphone. I may be 70, but I am as addicted to mine as any 14-year-old. Email, weather, news, social media, and even books. Oh, and of course, phone calls.
- Computer. I do so much on my computer. From ordering groceries (okay, I haven’t tried that yet, but it’s possible) to producing my weekly radio show from home, building web pages (been doing that since 2003 you know back when writing everything in code was a thing?) and writing this article.
- Chair lift! We just got this for my husband. Super expensive, but it makes his Parkinson’s mobility so much better.
Once I get started, the list could go on forever. Every day is not golden, but there are certainly golden moments in every one of them.
Which, of course, is true at any age.
So, maybe the years themselves aren’t golden at all. Maybe it’s the moments.
Over to You:
What are some of your golden and not so “golden” moments?
Tags Getting Older
Great article but the photo above looks like everything is “golden”, perfect, no disease, travel endlessly, no hearing aids, you get the idea.
Great point! I should have included my picture for true authenticity.
Just snapped. Didn’t even comb my hair. Ha! Ha!
Hearing aids are covered by hair – natural evasion tactic.
Background is my office – always in a state of chaos.
No more acne is nice. And free public transportation. :-)
True on both counts. 🙂
Walk in shower with seat and handrail.
We are thinking about the walk in shower. Well, we have a tiny one in our Master bedroom but that one is too small for a seat – though it does need a handrail.
With my husband’s Parkinson’s we are starting to put up handrails all over the place.
Loved reading this- made me smile and laugh a little. I guess because I get it! Also so many other great articles I’ve read always seem to suggest that I “need to be something about it” and offer unrealistic solutions for me. Your writing just tells it like it is, which I appreciate. It’s just nice to know someone out there is going through something similar, no solutions or answers-just laugh a little about it all.
Carolyn
About twenty years ago there was a workshop offered called, “How to Age Gracefully,” or some such nonsense which I didn’t agree with at the time. I didn’t take the workshop but it annoyed me even so. I’m all for, “let’s just get through this the best we can,” the graceful part felt so “patronizing.” Like survival wasn’t enough of an issue for growing old we have to put frosting on it.
When I was in my early twenties I remember my mom telling me that she had read in a magazine these words that really helped her. “I am who I am, I look like who I look like.” there is so much push to be more than who we are or what we look like.
Though I will admit I took a selfie last week just for the heck of it and wanted to put a pillowcase over my head for the rest of the day. I even went into the bathroom and put some cream on my face and some mascara. Most days I don’t bother with the mascara but I was sort of shocked into it.😏
I love those words your mom told you. Sometimes I actually wonder if my kids are going to be embarrassed by how I look as I get older.
I struggle with seeing myself in the mirror at times. It doesn’t match with the picture in my head.
I’ve started to take a selfie every day and look at it honestly so that I can become familiar with how I look. I know it sounds odd, but everyone else sees me all day and is good with it. I just don’t look at myself often.
I just turned 60 and I need to come to terms with that reality.
But I love these articles and feel like I have a community of wisdom. Thank you
Interesting idea about the daily selfie. Not sure I am up to that brutal honesty. But that is a good thought to stay current with. Have to think about that.
There is certainly a community of wisdom here. I find something almost every day that I can find something interesting to read, think about and even put into practice! Well some of them. Sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff I could be doing.