A little entertainment at the campground!

I am usually the oldest person in whatever group I'm in. Even now, with the on-line journallers, I'm among the OLD people. When I was BBSing, I was definitely the geriatric one, and before that, playing D&D, as well. These groups are fairly open to different demographics, but occasionally one gets the whiff of dismissal. I was reading an article in Civilization that points out that advertisers dismiss us, going for the 18-49 demographic. That doesn't make sense to me, since the Baby Boom (which I predate) is graying. According to the article, too, Seniors have more money to play with, as well. Therefore, advertisers should, you would think, be racing to CBS.

My neighborhood is full of vital old folks, who chug along well into their 80s before disappearing (where? into their houses? nursing homes? the cemetary?) But there's my Mom, and Rich's dad, both of whom fell apart in their 70s. My father-in-law got all Alzheimery and accused my mother-in-law of kidnapping him. He eventually went into a nursing home and rapidly downhill from there. My Mom had started falling apart at 60 when she came to live with us, but at least she kept her wits about her. I was hoping that aging didn't have to follow the path of increasing decrepitude, ending in a wheelchair in a nursing home, drooling and senile, then in a bed with tubes. John Glenn gives one hope.

I'm not the only one feeling the years. Janet has also admitted to some qualms of late, as has Lucy (though heaven knows she has very little reason.)

Some years ago I read a magazine article on Sofia Loren at 60. She said one secret to maintaining vitality was to spring out of bed, all bouncy and ready to face the day. Yeah, right. I stump down the hall to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and there's no spring in my step at all. I couldn't bounce if I were paid!

I never read The Feminine Mystique and have been fairly neutral about Betty Friedan. However, at the Church booksale I picked up a copy of The Fountain of Age, on the theory that I seem to be getting older, and I'd like to know there's hope for me. Well, indeed there is.

Friedan introduces her topic by talking about women who "never had menopause." Now, last year I saw a PBS film on menopause which included some women who took hormones just to keep their periods, since they'd be old when they stopped. If that was what Friedan meant, thought I, count me OUT. I have been looking forward to menopause for 15 years or more. (When I was reading textbooks for the blind, I had one introductory psych book where the author was surprised that there were women who actually didn't hate menopause. Obviously the author was male.) It turns out, however, that Friedan means women who weren't incapacitated (as we have been told for years we would be) by menopause.

I think I may have had it (the menopause is an actual week, the last time: the climacteric is the years before and after this week. One book says 15 years on each side, which I think is a little extreme: I'll believe 5). So far, I gotta tell you, it's quite liberating, though I'm carrying supplies just in case. Then there's the matter of hot flashes (hot flushes) and night sweats. I have something, sometimes. However, it could be the weather. It could also be blood sugar lows. The last time was last week when we were looking at computers for Rich, and suddenly I felt faint and very very hungry. Definitely got my shirt wet with sweat. But this has happened for years, and is cured with a granola bar or a Snickers. I always figured it was a sudden dip in the blood sugar (since I was diagnosed pre-diabetic 30 years ago this is no surprise). I remember, though, on the other side of my cycle, at 11 and 12, how often I fainted in church for lack of food. (I fainted twice after Roni was born, too. It ended up keeping me in the hospital an extra day. Someone's a bit anemic!) So, hot flashes? Who knows? Moody? Well, yes, but that's nothing new. I take Dong Quai which does, I think, mellow me out a bit.

Anyway, I'm giving myself a celebration for passing this milestone, if indeed I have. And that's what Betty Friedan means in the book. She goes on to talk about how to maintain interest, what seniors can do and should do, and it's all very optimistic and hopeful.

I also think that as the Baby Boom elephant-in-the-demographic-python ages, suddenly they won't be quite as dismissive of the elderly. I only see good things ahead for us as we age. Granted, we need help to see and to hear, and we don't walk as fast, but there are still lots of opportunities ahead. Nothing to fear. So I got a little grumpy on my birthday, but on the whole, I don't think it's too terrible. (When I turned 40 I was determined to enjoy it, as I was going to turn 40 like it or not. It was a great birthday. 50 ditto.)