Dot, Age 70.5
My story..my story, what is my story and where do I begin my story. At birth, teenage years, when I was married, the birth of my two children, my divorce, and now here I am 70 and turning 71 in March of 2014. After 22 years of marriage I decided I was unable to live with the drinking any longer eventhough I had little to offer the working community and knowing I would eventually be ousted from my home, I filed anyway. That was 27 years ago.
I worked for the NYS Legislature for 16.5 years and retired at age 62. I went to Massage Therapy school at age 60 which was very difficult for me as I was caring for my aging mother and working full time. I decided to take over the home where I was born and my mother resided. This home, built in the mid 1800’s, was falling in disrepair and my decision was to move in, begin rehabing while working and going to school and caring for my mother. It wasn’t easy and it was very challenging. I have come to know that I love challenge and if there is none, I am bored stiff. My mother stayed until she was 96 when she entered a nursing home where she lived another 6.5 years before passing in 2012. My home is lovely after years of hard work and I now have a rental unit on the first floor which gives me what I missed by retiring early.
I work with non-functioning clients at a resident home giving light massage and doing energy work for them. This is wearing as it is extremely depressing at times and my clients usually die an early age. I am now at a point in my life that I feel that I really have no purpose and try not to invade the business of my married children. Most of my friends are still married and have lovely lives. I need to find something now to do that is uplifting and gives me a good feeling.
I tried volunteering and I get bored quick. I have tried several relationships but they didn’t work out so I think I will be single for the rest of my time. Knowing where and how to meet someone is tricky these days. I love good intellectual conversation and would rather talk with men than woman because a conversation with woman usually ends up with health or family issues. I would be very happy in a mens group if I could find one.
Anyway, here I am and this is a short peek into who and what I am. I have an abundance of energy and creativity and would love to be able to explore that more. thank you for listening!
Your life sounds worthwhile and listening.
There is a “thing” we seniors need that may be missing. We need to connect with the living, those and that on the way up, so that we are not by default focused on the declining and dying.
That means…..plant and tend flowers, or herbs, or even a small garden. Tend the living. That means keeping our eye on the rising generation, even if it is just perusing their YouTube offerings. That means having animals that procreate and tend the newborns and sell them. We MUST keep our eye on the generating, rather than the declining. Or maybe just keep creating with our writing, our poems, our music, our art. Just pick something that keeps our eye from staying focused on the decline. God bless you in your life.