WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU ABOUT TURNING 80

The Old Rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Russell Burton, an Old Person

This title and idea about aging is stolen from a Web article by Annie Tomlin from Refinery 29 published on 3 March 2015.  It had the age at 30.  Oh my turning 30 for me was very long ago but I remember it like it was yesterday for it came as a shock about this aging thing.  It seemed to me that I was in my 20s forever.  I wanted to be 21 for obvious reasons and it seemed like I could never reach that age.  Suddenly, now I was 30.  I have explained to many people that that birthday was the one I remember as the most traumatic.

I write that 30 was a tough age for me but I must admit that 80 is right up there as an eye opener. In some ways reaching these ages are similar for when I hit 80, like I explained when I reached 30 it was a shock to me.  It seemed I had been in my 70s forever and feeling like I was in my 50s.  I kept asking myself what is this old age all about?

The article I am referring does not describe my trauma when I turned 30 and it applied mostly to women not men for sure.  It showed the face of one woman and another picture of a woman’s lower face showing off her red lips. As I am a man it was hard to relate to this article but it did give me some good ideas about this 80s thing.

The first grey hairs and face wrinkles were noted as a shock to someone turning 30.  Loss of collagen explained why their body skin in certain areas begins to wrinkle.  Of course all of this happens big time a half century later when you reach 80.  Wow, did I just note that it has been half a century since I turned 30. As noted in the article, finding these body changes were called ‘self discovery’ which of course is really telling when you reach 80.  Thinking now about self discovery at my age includes, poor balance, sometimes falling flat on my face when walking, a mild drop foot, aches and pains all of the time, white hair not grey hair, and more wrinkles especially in my lower body, you know from loss of collagen.

The article notes that at 30 a person knows who you are, starting to make serious strides in one’s career, and generally kicking ass.   This kicking ass thing I don’t understand but of course our primary careers are now long gone but we certainly know who we are.  If you don’t know who you are at 80 you will never know.  I write primary careers are long gone which is true but for me and others we still manage to do things each day which we could call a career – well calling it a career is stretching it a bit.

In my retirement I have taken up some serious hobbies like I am sure most everyone has when a person has lots of time on their hands.  For me it was painting acrylics and watercolors, doing some stained glass, cooking, some cabinet building and remodeling my condo, and now my interest is in writing as I have noted before.  I was able to sell a few paintings and stained glass works but my writing financial status has been less successful.  Oh I wrote a novel and have sold a few of my e-books.  But, now my ‘agent’ has notified me that a screen writer is looking at my novel.  I guess that means some thoughts of it becoming a movie.  I am supposed to hear a couple of weeks from now regarding her decision.  Hey by the time this article is printed, my name might be up in lights. (No that never happened for it is now 2018)

I note when this article is published on my web site for I have many more written before I get to this one.  Writing these things is fun for me so I write many more than I can publish at the rate of one each month.  I guess the logical answer is to publish more than one a month but then I would begin to feel some pressure that I have to sit down and write.  At my age, I do not want to feel any pressure.  Oh I can always juggle my articles to appear when they would be most appropriate.   

This article notes that growing old is a good thing.  Well at age 30 I guess that could be said with some truth.  But like most everything a person can get too much of a good thing.  I will note that growing old is one of those things.  In a way it is a lot like eating too much candy and getting sick, old age is full of many fun memories which could only have happened if a life is lived.  And like candy, too much can make someone sick and old age has a way of making people so sick they die from it.

Dental changes were noted when reaching 30.  Oh, I guess I had a few dental problems at that age but I don’t remember them.  Of course dental problems occur at a faster rate as a person grows older.  I guess we all have crowns on some teeth and for many false teeth and now implanted teeth.  I write for many because when I was about to have some serious surgery a couple of years ago, my anesthesiologist was shocked to find out that I did not have a bridge or a mouth full of false teeth.  She also noted that I did not look like I was 80 years old which was great news for this suggested to me that I had a chance of coming out of this surgery alive!

I think that letting people know that they are aging when they are 30 is a good thing for a person should realize that fact throughout their entire life.  Now, I don’t mean to dwell on growing older but realize that decisions during your life are important because some depend on age.  And, age is something that can not be recalled like wanting to start over because I didn’t do the right thing back then.

For me this came to my attention when I was addressing a few freshman veterinary students during our 50^th anniversary of our graduation in 1956 from the University of California at Davis Veterinary School.   Obviously this would have been in 2006 after I had been retired for some six years.  Each class member who could attend (about half of the members of my class were dead) gave a brief statement to those few freshman students who were ‘required’ to attend.  As I looked at those young faces my mind raced back to when we had been freshmen full of idealistic expectations regarding our future for we had been selected to our freshman class as one out of ten who had applied.

I suppose I gave them the best advice they received that day for I simply said, “Don’t let your life get away from you.  Live it each day for when you look back on it like we are doing today, our career in veterinary medicine began just like it was yesterday and suddenly it is gone and it can’t be restarted.”

Now, what got my attention with this article about growing old at 30 is that aging is a physiologic factor that is a sure thing at all ages.  It all starts when a person is born.  Immediately, age begins its relentless march and will not quit until a person dies.  Yes, when that happens age has finally been conquered but at a serious price.

Written 2012