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When did that happen?


AuntDee

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Just made my appointment with Social Security to sign up for benefits and medicare. I could swear it was just a few years ago that I graduated from college. What's this with life flying by so fast? I swear when I look in the mirror a 22 year old enthusiastic young women looks back at me. And I love to shampoo my hair as when it is wet it momentarily reverts back to it's dark brown shade. Altho, last week when I had it cut the beautician said the grey has such a lovely sheen to it, so now I don't mind having gone grey. One thing about getting older is I know what I like and what I don't like to do in life and I don't waste my time (too much) on doing those things I don't like. Well off to be a senior citizen. Rita

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I positively love not working....I would, however, like to have something part time just to keep my social skills up to date....LOL....I've reached the take it or leave it phase of my life and I am rather enjoying it...having spent most of my life pleasing someone else, it's wonderful to only have to please myself....See what all you youngins have to look forward to.....

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Welcome to the club! :unsure: I had the good fortune to retire nearly 12 years ago, long before I was "of age" (I'm just now 62). I went from being VERY social and involved in a ton of activities in a very large city, to, literally overnight, living here on my 15 acres, and being quite happy to not talk to anyone (except over the internet) for days on end, not doing anything "on demand". And doing as I please pretty much when I please. And loving it. Being a senior has it's perks!

And a few grey hairs are a small price to pay for the privacy and freedom I now have....

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I may not be a senior since I am only 44, but I have joined the ranks of the retired. Was put on permanent disability leave 6-1/2 years ago. It's strange being 'retired', but still having 3 kids in school. However, I am not a stay-at-home-mom, I am a mom who stays at home because of an illness which, so far, has not really interfered too much with how I can live my life. Now, if the kids could just grow up a bit faster so that I can take over one of the bedrooms for my dh's...ok...not really. LOL!

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I never thought of it like that..I am on disability. I have not worked for about seven years now. I like it but I do miss being out and about in the workplace. Not the actual work but being with your co-workers.

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Same for me, Heidi. I love not having to "go to the office" everyday, but do miss seeing people everyday. I'm also relatively young (53) but have been on disability nearly twenty years - now, how did THAT happen??? Anyway, it's let me have the time to be creative in ways I never could have been while I was "working" and I love that!

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I also miss seeing other people and talking to them at the office, but I definately do not miss the deadlines and stress. Also, I was a female in a pre-dominantly male profession, and that made it more difficult to make any sort of friends.

However, my kids have benefitted from me being home for them - no childcare, someone around to drive them to activities, someone to go on school outings, someone to go to school for concerts or award ceremonies, etc.

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Liza, did you feel incredibly guilty that you couldn't work at first? I sure did! I mean, there was no way I could do even an entry level type job when I first became ill, much less the stress-filled semi-executive sort of work I was doing (also in a mostly male field), but still I felt like I'd failed somehow. Got over it after a while when I realized I really, REALLY was ill, but it was a hard transition.

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Liza, did you feel incredibly guilty that you couldn't work at first? I sure did! I mean, there was no way I could do even an entry level type job when I first became ill, much less the stress-filled semi-executive sort of work I was doing (also in a mostly male field), but still I felt like I'd failed somehow. Got over it after a while when I realized I really, REALLY was ill, but it was a hard transition.

That's a hard question to answer. I'd have to say no, and yes.

You see, I knew that disability was in my future from even before I ever started working full time, it was just a matter of when. I have polycystic kidney disease (PKD) with liver enlargement as well - I have kind of looked about 6 months pregnant for about the past 10 years. PKD is a dominant hereditary disease that came from my father. They discovered he had it when I was 6 months old, but by then there were 5 of us, and 4 inherited it (one brother at least as bad as me, also on disability, the other two not as bad and still working). My father also died of the disease in 1977 at age 42 when I was only 12, so I grew up not really expecting to live past 42 until just recently. Knowing all that, the timing still came as a shock, but stress is one of the worst enemies of the disease because it ups your BP, which is why I was put on disability, along with the major depression I was trying to battle.

However, I did and sometimes do feel guilty that I have a fixed income and cannot bring in any more money than that, and that I don't have to deal with the stresses of work, but my husband does. Also, I don't think that I had the time to come into my own in the 12 or so years that I worked, but that doesn't bother me because it means that I no longer have to prove myself to anyone for a paycheck!

Sorry for the complicated answer.

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Well, I am 48 (for about another month & 1/2), and I YEARN to retire!!!! Unfortunately, even though I have worked full-time since I was 17, I have only been with the Postal Service for 11 years. There is no chance I'll be able to take early retirement. I stay exhausted all the time. I barely have time to work on minis, and I am in a constant state of frustration. I've got the grey hairs, just not the reward . . . To make matters worse, I HATE my job . . . can't leave it because (especially with this economy) other jobs wouldn't pay someone like me as well as this job does, and I am divorced and living solely on what I bring home. To make matters worse, with Obama and Pelosi at the helm, I am pretty sure there won't be any Social Security for me when my time to draw it comes. Plus, Pelosi wants to put a "windfall tax" on retirement, Medicare and the like to "provide the standard of living we have all enjoyed to the 300 million plus illegal immigrants in this country". I don't think I'll EVER be able to retire!!!!

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I'm 58 and have been a stay at home mom ever since I became a mom.

I can't see how I'll ever retire, especially since my biggest kid, DH, retired a couple of years ago. I have more work to do now than I did 14 years ago when I had 2 teenagers and a toddler. I used to have free time then.

I firmly believe this is what is contributing to my short term memory loss. If I don't write things down right away, I'll often forget them within seconds. I just have too much to remember. Stuff is falling through the cracks.

I wonder if I can find a notebook on a chain to wear around my neck with a little pen attached?

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I had the same problem, even old ladies living at my house peeking at me from all the mirrors! But now I've adjusted to it, white hair and all. I love being retired. I play play play!

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(Could we cool it on the political stuff before tempers flare & this topic gets locked?) We retired five years ago and I LOVE it! Like the Wolfmeister, we play all day long. Due to heredity I have not yet gone gray, and a lot of people (not family or hairdresser) accuse me of dying my hair.

Since retiring we have taken kayaking lessons and love to paddle, we have extended how far we can go on bikes and now a ride of less than 20 miles doesn't "feel" right. I have been having problems with hikes over 5 miles, but DH bought me a lovely pair of new boots with tops that cover & better support my ankles that I broke in at Antietam Battlefield. I thought I missed being with people so last Fall between trips I went back and helped the School Health folks at our Health Department do health screening on the school children and I discovered I didn't miss it nearly as much as I thought I did. Can't do it this year, as my cataracts are bad enough in one eye to mess with my driving. On the up side, with the new replacement lenses I;m looking forward to having the cataracts removed (but not they're growing to the point where my eye doctor will do them, since I really like using my vision to mini!).

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I've been on disability since age 35. I have multiple sclerosis. There were a few years when the MS went into remission and I was able to go back to work part-time (here in the US, folks on social security disability income can collect SSDI and also work part-time, with income limitations). Anyway, I did that for awhile, but then the MS came back with a vengeance and for the last 11 years I use a wheelchair for mobility.

It was just 5 years ago, after my legs pretty much stopped working altogether, that I got into building dollhouses...and love it. I'll never be "good" at it...but good enough for my own pleasure. I really don't miss working. The $ would be nice, but I never worked at jobs that paid all that much, or had any sort of benefits, so in the long run I'm better off financially not working (and getting SSDI, which comes with medicare benefits), than I was working.

Anyway. I'm a loner, and perfectly happy to go for hours and even days, not talking to anyone, just "playing" on the computer, or working on my little houses, or tending my "herd" of cats.. :laughbounce:

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Fred`s former co-worker and friend retired from his job in January. He is 65. His wife is 15 years younger and still works. Their children are grown up and off on their own now.

He is going crazy! He feels like he is going stir crazy cause all he does is hang out in the house. He has back problems so he cannot really work. I suggested to Fred to suggest to him that maybe he would enjoy volunteering at the hospital (where he retired from). Volunteer 2nd shift (the shift he used to work) for a couple hours a week. He would get out of the house, see his friends, and have a purpose.

I have things to do and I am almost never bored. I can get bored but I think everyone gets that way from time to time. You have to find what you like to do or learn something new.

A former friend of mine told me that I was too boring. I needed to get out and do stuff. Paarrrttaayy! She is clueless. LOL That is why she is a former. I may be really boring to some people but I am happy.

As long as I have my few close friends, family, dollhouses, gardens, art, and the internet...I will always have something to do.

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I may be really boring to some people but I am happy.

As long as I have my few close friends, family, dollhouses, gardens, art, and the internet...I will always have something to do.

Sounds a lot like me!

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I thought I was the only "loner". One time I decided I should be more social...so I went to the Mall where I knew some acquaintances gathered, sat down and tried to join in. Twice I tried that. two days. wasted. two days of gossip. two days of complete boredom. Never again. Thank goodness I can finally be myself. I like solitude, my animals,garden, family (at times, but not in my face) and doing what I darn well please. Bill goes "out" every day, comes home to eat and nap, goes out again, doing what he pleases. Seems fair to me. My life is interesting and challenging...I missed the mins when my RA flared up, but I'm back full blast, and with this site, I've never been happier. Even with the pains and disability, my old age is my best age.

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