"I would suggest that ONLY love will work."

And respect .

And that's why I will never tell them how exasperated I get on a regular basis.

One of these days I am going to buy $450.00 worth of stair well railing and put it on six walls of their house. When they are gone.

Honestly, when I hit the age that being alive starts to suck, I'm going to go out in a blaze. Drinks on me, bender or multiple ones. Coke, prostitutes, and loud music. Will spend my hospice/last hurrah five years earlier to enjoy it.

Just short of mid life, so I should probably just be able to plug into the neural net and download my Total Recall experience instead of real life hookers and blow.

Tough crowd here. I turned 75 last May and yes, old age has taken it's toll in several areas.

My balance is not as good as it used to be so I seldom pick up my one year old granddaughter. No one had to tell me to do that, it was just common sense. If the time comes I need a cane to steady myself, then so be it, I will grab it gladly.

I can't lift some of the things I used to, so I wait until my daughter and son in law come over to help. That was at their insistence. I talk freely of these limitations with my family and will continue to do that.

I can still do some things. I cut and split around 3 cords of wood each spring. In November I will hunt my back woods as usual and have three tree stands that I will be in. We have 70 acres here on the farm and I still keep all that up brush hogging, mowing, what have you. Things get done, just not as fast as they used to.

To say that "old people regress to infants" is just absurd. I have known many elderly people who died of different causes but they were mentally sharp as tacks. Parts of your body can and will fail you as you age but your mind can still be OK.

Maybe it is possible to grow old with some grace.

We just had that talk with my 84 year old mom. I was doing everything anyway but it was taking twice as long to get her and my pain in the ass sister onboard. I basically told her I would keep her in the loop as much as she wanted but I needed the autonomy to just get it done. To her credit she agreed. It is much easier now. I think my oldest sister is dealing with moms aging worse than my mom.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
I constantly hear my very upset father say "I don't understand what's going on, this isn't like me. I don't know who to go see about it."

Uh... um... er... what do you say to that?

He'll be 90 in March, still working a full time manual labor job, and still doing the occasional job for old customers of what's left of his business. He held it off a LOT longer than most, but it's hit him fast and hard, emotionally. Probably worse than most people BECAUSE he's been able to be active so long, his age is hitting him all at once.

Tell him that you have his back. That he's done a great job providing for his family. He's going through a very disconcerting time as he's starting to lose control of things in his life. My dad went through something like that. He would take his passport to bed just so he won't forget his name.

I find myself starting to have blind spots in my memory. The sad part is that you're not aware of it until you're made aware of it. My favorite example is when my nephew visited me and we were out eating lunch. He apologized his wife didn't come because she doesn't like flying. I said I have a niece whose husband doesn't like to fly either. He asked what's her name. I thought to myself, why ask her name, I'm trying to keep my family private. I was blind to the fact that the niece I was talking about what his sister and he knew about his brother in law not liking to fly. I knew he's my nephew and I didn't connect he is brother to the niece I was talking about.

I hit 75 this year and have slowed down some. I forget some names and things I was supposed to do.

I still shoot as well as ever and still read 2 papers daily as well as the on line stuff. I spend a lot of time here and on the S&W forum. I can tell you guys what works and what doesn't. I still reload and haven't blown anything up.

Yesterday, I drove approx 250 miles and back in 5 hours. On the other end, picked up a nice truck at an auction and did all the paperwork. When I returned, I gave the dealer a pretty complete rundown on the vehicle. I was in the car business for 21 years.

I am going to South Dakota next week on my 26th annual pheasant hunt. I won't walk as much as in the past, but I bet I shoot just as well. Will probably carry the Franchi 20 gauge AL more than the heavier Red Label.

I will help drive the 800 miles without a GPS. I know where I am going and how to get there. I remember the towns, gas stations, etc.

I know I have aged and I hope I know my limitations. That being said, I am enjoying life.

I shoot almost exclusively with older people, with the oldest being 94. Not one of them is in denial nor is any one of them senile. They're all still sharp.

The only one I know who has a problem is my brother who has alzheimer's and has for around 10 years. He pretty much doesn't know where or who he is. He and his wife blame it on Agent Orange and since he was an operating room technician on a hospital ship off the coast of Vietnam, it's possible although there are tons of people seemingly not affected by Agent Orange, many others seem to be.

Nobody else on either side of the family has ever had Alzheimer's.

My 83 y.o. neighbor lady ,across the hall.
Won first place in a 5 k race this year
Women over 80 class

She kayaks, rides 15 miles a week in her bike,
Rows 15 miles a week on her rowing machine.

Claims to burn 4900 calories a week

It aint the age.... Its the mileage.

I'm really glad I never had to take my Mom's keys away. The state of Colorado did it for me. My mother did what she did not out of the sake of belligerence or denial. She simply wanted to last as long as she could without being a burden.
She knew just exactly what burden was. She took care of my Dad at home for 9 months before cancer took him.

“Yesterday, I drove approx 250 miles and back in 5 hours”

That’s hauling ass, no matter how old you are.

^ ^ ^ ^
Yep, that's hauling Kardashian-level ass. (Averaging 100 mph.)

I meant to say the round trip was 250. Sorry, I am old.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
“Yesterday, I drove approx 250 miles and back in 5 hours”

That’s hauling ass, no matter how old you are.

quote:

Originally posted by maxwayne:
I meant to say the round trip was 250. Sorry, I am old.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
“Yesterday, I drove approx 250 miles and back in 5 hours”

That’s hauling ass, no matter how old you are.

That just made the thread!

My parents are getting really old. Dad is in his 80s and mom mid 70s.

My 2 teenage boys and I spend a lot of time around them and it can be very frustrating, especially for me.

I ask God for strength and patience all the time. I want to be patient and all of us try to be helpful. But I fall short with being patient and I want to be a better example for my boys.

It’s hard for sure and as I get a bit older (48 in January), I do understand more.

My Mother was a handful . Never wrong . The whole world was treating her badly because she was old and they don't care about old people , etc, . etc. She also had a mean streak.

I recall this one conversation with my mother, God rest her soul, went something like this:

"I'm going to buy a new car."
"Is something wrong with your car?"
"No. I just want a new car."
"Can you afford a new car?" (I knew she couldn't.)
"Doesn't matter. I want a new car."
"If you can't afford a new car, how do you expect to pay for it?"
"I don't know. I just want a new car."
"If you buy a new car and you can't pay for it, eventually they'll take it back, then you won't have any car."

We went 'round and 'round like this for several minutes, with me patiently, repeatedly explaining to her that, despite the fact she wanted a new car, she was in no position to be buying a new car--particularly when the car she had was perfectly fine. (It was, too.)

Sadly, we found shortly thereafter she had little time left. Had we known that at the time I would've suggested she reverse-mortgage her house and buy herself the damn car. But there was no way to know at the time.

An actual photograph of old guys in da Nile:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RichardC,

quote:

My parents are getting really old. Dad is in his 80s and mom mid 70s.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Vtail is still pretty spry in his mid 80s. Age is relative.

What's wrong with elderly people walking around an Alaskan park filled to the rim with giant Kodiak bears?