Barbara Diane, I also find the birthday after a milestone a hard one. So far 51 and 71 were hard. None of the milestone celebration, just getting older. It is a gift to still be here. Very wise. We have some slightly older friends with serious medical problems that affect quality of life. We wonder if that will be us in a couple of years. I am becoming more understanding of older people and the challenges they face. Some of the quirks are starting to make sense.

Deb,
It IS weird what small things will bother us about aging. Right before my 50th, the AARP sent me a bill. No sales pitch about how wonderful they were, or all the marvelous advantages of joining—just a bill. >:-(
Now, get out there & start stealing sugar and ketchup packets! :-))

Joy, I think you’re going to be like my grandma, who went to play piano for people in the old folks’ home regularly, well into her 80s.

I had a horrible terrible awful time with 50. Guess what? I wish I could be 50 again. I am probably also going to hate 60. My family has never dealt well with aging gracefully so I did not learn how to do that when I was younger, I guess.

My husband is 8 years older than I am. I actually had a hard time with him turning 65 this year, but he was just fine.

Senior discount at Marriott usually serves up the best rates - better than AAA and most corporate rates. So there's that!

50 was hard for me and for almost 10 years I avoided telling anyone my true age. I always let them guess and they usually guessed younger. That made me feel good. Once I turned 60 I did not care anymore. I just turned 62 and I speak my mind though I am careful not to insult or hurt anyone. I still feel like a kid at times and remember my mom always saying that age is just a number; it is how you feel inside that matters.

PS. If I don't get that AARP discount I always ask for a AAA discount. One of those usually works. Plus I use the AARP discount for eye exams and eyeglass discounts.

I never understood lying about one's age -- I'd hate to tell someone I'm 45 and have them inwardly saying, "oh, honey, you're looking rough for 45." I'd almost rather round up a few years and have them think, "girl looks awesome for 55!"

Janet, I agree with you. I have been honest with my age and started getting carded again trying to get my senior discounts.

LOL! Apparently there is quite the scam going on with 'underage' folks going to the movies and claiming to be seniors for the discount seniority grants.

I never minded the milestone age events - it meant that I moved up an age group at competitive events. 40-44, and 45-49 were fiercely competitive however participants thinned out over 50, My friends teased that I was the only person they knew who looked forward to turning 50. I'll be 58 in 6 weeks, and I'm already 'in training' for 60. No races in the future, but what I want to look like, how I want to feel, and what I want to do to celebrate!

Deb, I remember my Grandmother saying to me on the cusp of her 80th birthday, that she just could not see being 80 as anything as being old. I distinctly remember her saying "you just can't say that 80 is young can you?" I remember thinking, as a 20 something, goodness at 79 she still thinks that is young??

The thing was, she was always very youthful. That thinking helped her to stay young, both physically and mentally, well into her 80's. It was a wonderful gift, because for me that is the benchmark. Once I am 80 I am permitted to think of myself as old, anything less, I am young.

Of course, when I turn 80, I expect all my YLF friends to make sure that I am a very stylish little old lady.

Wise words, bijou. I an now 72 and not looking forward to 80+. A lot depends on your health. But at 70, a lot of medical stuff no one talks about starts to catch up with you. Tomorrow I will have the left eye operated on for cataracts. No one tells you. That you cannot lift over 15 pounds. We are watching those we are close to that are in their 80's. Smokers and the overweight are having major problems and having to move to assisted living. It is use it or lose it. I am so glad we down sized when we did. Please do not leave that task to your children. I had to do that when my parents passed. It is horrible. We are feeling after a long weekend of caring for grandchildren, that we are too old for this although we want to help and love them to pieces. dS2 is depending on our help but it is not easy. For the next 2 weeks I can not lift over 15 pounds or stoop and bend much due to cataract surgery, but feel like I am really needed to help DS 2 while his wife is traveling for her job. He is sleep deprived dealing with a 3-year old and nursing baby. I wish so much I were younger.

I just had my 60th and I guess I am in denial because I just can't grasp the fact that I am a 60 year old lady. With a 70 year old husband, no less! But we can still dance up a storm and we still feel young!

I will attest to what MsMary said! She and her wonderful husband put some 20-somethings I know to shame. I look at photos and realize I look every bit of my age these days, but I'm in denial in my head. I'm hoping to dance my way into true old age!

By the way, my husband had an experience over the weekend that punched him in the gut, age-wise. He was at some friends' house for a birthday party for their young daughter. I think our friends are in their late 30s. One of the party guests asked if my husband was his friend's DAD. (I know the feeling -- last year a waitress asked if our 29-year-old friend was my daughter, and while she's a gorgeous woman and in some sense I was flattered, I was also dismayed I was no longer passing for a sister to a near-30-year-old.)

But my husband took the realization as permission to just BE. We are getting older, there is no way around it. To *try* to be younger is futile and will probably only backfire. Of course we want to take care of ourselves, be active, and present ourselves as well as we can, but to take extreme measures in chasing youth is just wasting time and energy that can be spent actually having fun.

Janet, when we were out doing father-daughter things, people used to think I was my father’s wife! That was creepy. Like it would be ok for an old man to have a child bride? Creepy!

Janet, DH had something similar happen not long ago - we laughed but of course it does make you think.

Deb - We have a lot of older friends - many just ten or so years ahead of us, but some in their 80's who may not be the picture of health, but still get out and DO things, which I think is so important. And to have friends of various ages - younger and older - is good I think as well.

The thing that probably bothers me most is unnecessary medical tests and procedures that are "hard sold" to many of the older friends we know. They feel like they have to nearly fight it out at the doc's office just to avoid getting one more invasive procedure or test done.