Getting old not for the faint of heart
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- May 17, 2022
- 1226
Many years ago my grandmother told me getting old brings on the Golden Years. She defined that by saying the older one gets, the more you need gold. Guess what? She was right.
Perhaps this current economy is making things worse, but aging is not cheap. Just medications, even if only copays with your insurance, have gotten up there in the stratosphere. And most folks find aging requires more medications. They also spend more time seeing doctors.
While we must take proper care of our health, taking even moderate care is costly. I remember my dad saying aging, which we all do if we are lucky, takes money, more than he had counted on. For a man who always felt great, he made the mistake of not seeing a doctor unless forced to. My mother did her best, but Dad was rather stubborn. As a result, when Dad had a heart attack, he was totally surprised, despite knowing both of his parents had heart problems. From that time on, he had to see his doctor rather frequently and spent more than a few dollars on medications. It irritated him enormously.
Lately, my Taller Half and I have noticed we each are spending more time and money on doctors and on medications. Those needs snuck up on us, and both of us were taken aback.
Each of us has developed a few things that need medical attention — nothing big, mind you, but expensive nonetheless. I remember Mother telling us about the old lady who had begun appearing in her mirror. We kids decided it was either a ghost or Mom was getting weird. Weird maybe, but Mom had just passed her 50th birthday. Now we adults know that isn’t “old,” but kids think so.
I remember being a teenager and thinking anyone over 30 was elderly. Just wait ‘til our kids turn 30. We will then address them as “elderly” and see how they like it. Ha! Can’t wait.