BlogHer - Elders - Comments

Up with cronedom!

TheFoodShrink — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:16:16 -0500

So glad to have found you all on my very first day at Blogher...and here you are writing, with admirable intelligence, wit, and sorority, about a subject that reared its head on my Facebook wall this very same day.

A young woman of my acquaintance made a dark comment today on Facebook about the old women at her gym and got some very supportive comments in response from her peers. I wonder if she has plans to avoid old age and I wish her luck with the effort. If she is fortunate, she will get to experience cronedom...and, with a longer life expectancy for her generation... for considerably longer than the brave elder women at her gym. May she find herself well-served by her juniors when the time comes.

I'd be happy to see some of you on my Facebook Friends list. There's power in numbers and we who make up the generational pig in the python can certainly make ourselves heard. In one of the posts above, one of you referred to Facebook as a "gated community." I wouldn't want to think we'd need one of our own to keep out the riff raff, would you? And is there a 55+ social networking venue? Nah, I really like hobnobbing with the kids as long as they behave themselves.

Sign me up, gals...I'd prefer to agitate than acquiesce, so point me to the petition.

My blog is http://www.maturelandscaping.com and it's not about yard work. I've got a couple of you bookmarked right this minute and am looking forward to the visit.

Nance

If you have the channel

Virginia DeBolt — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:04:08 -0500

you should check out her show on RLTV. It's good.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology CE | Web Teacher | First 50 Words

Mrs. Brady always was the coolest Brady

Flightkeeper — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:59:13 -0500

and it's great that she has found a way of re-inventing herself so that she is still active in the entertainment business, not many older women have been able to do that.

(My blogs are http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com and http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com)

Family History

Story Teller — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:36:59 -0500

Story Teller

I agree 150%

My father was an avid geneology follower ever since he was 15 years old. He was able to trace our family back to the 1400's. This has helped me be who I am today. He was an amazing man and an even more amazing father. He learned so much about where we came from that he was able to tell me stories that had been handed down from generation to generation. Wonderful!

I am currently blogging about a family story.

Thank you for doing this...

Living vicariously...

Sugar Pine Boutique — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:26:31 -0500

lol! So true, I love this analogy. I think many of us can totally relate. My parents are getting their house paid off this December, while my husband and I look at the mountain of mortgage we've got ahead of us....; )

Sugar Pine Boutique www.sugarpineboutique.etsy.com

Up to the parents

KatCalla — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:53:41 -0500

I completely agree that completely over the top cosmetic procudures like breast augmentations on underage girls is completely ridiculous. However, there are probably lots of scenarios where girl's confidence levels actually could benefit from cosmetic surgery. If her parents have the money and are willing, why not?

Kathy C

anti aging cosmetics

Hang in there

KatCalla — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:41:51 -0500

You are completely right. At this time the wrinkle creams aren't quite there yet, although they are getting better every year. Bio-tech is set to explode and I am optimistic that there will be a lot of leaps and bounds made in this area over the next few years. Until then, stick to getting your omega-3s, antioxidants and exercise. Also, the newer creams with peptides like Olay's Regeneist might be worth a shot.

Kathy Calla

anti aging wrinkles

Thanks, Susan

Mata H — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:46:06 -0500

My Mom was orphaned at 6 weeks of age, so I was raised by an orphan. I had no children (cancer) so I am the last in the line of orphans now.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Sad post on a sad day

Susan Katz Miller — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:58:25 -0500

Mata--

This sad and eloquent post feels right on this sad day, 9/11. My mother, who is almost 80, still says she feels like an orphan after 30 years without parents. I guess we inherit the orphan mantle and only pass it on when we pass on ourselves.

Susan Katz Miller

http://onbeingboth.wordpress.com./

Gary

Thankless Job — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:42:01 -0500

Hah!

Thanks! I really appreciate your support!

Gary himself nixed the laptop idea. He's our in-house tech support and he says he just can't spare the kind of time it would take to teach Maw even the very basics of computer use.

But I promised to invite Maw's sister (and family) up here for Thanksgiving. She seems satisfied with that for now.

Thankless

Hi Kerri

Mata H — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:46:50 -0500

Ah yes, the redefining of traditions -- that one is a tough call. It is doable, but the transition feels strange -- like walking in someone else's too-big shoes for a while. Whenever I observe my family's old holiday traditions (with friends now, as my whole family is gone except for a beloved 86 yer old cousin), anyway -- when I observe those traditions now, it is always with the thought in the back of my mind -- "This would make Mom happy." She would be pleased knowing I had carried on without her immediate presence. You left the area in which you had been raised.I recently moved back. It feels comforting in a strange way -- hard to explain.

I like your blog! What a great adventure. It cracked me up when you said you had even downsized your dog.(I have a rescued bichon). I didn't know there was a tiny house movement!

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Adult Orphans

Kerri Fivecoat — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:25:39 -0500

I lost my mom in 2007, over 25 years after losing my dad when I was 17. I'm so glad they didn't pass close to each other, still, the day I became an adult orphan wasn't easy. You tapped into many of the emotions one feels - the grief and the redefinition of "home," "family" and "traditions." You're right, we do lose that stabilizing force and it's never the same.

I also remember one especially difficult day and I picked up the phone to call a friend and talk. We chatted for awhile and then she said, "Oh, my mom is here, I have to go as we're going shopping and out to lunch." I know she didn't mean to, but it felt like I had just been stabbed in the heart.

I decided I could no longer go on in the place where my husband and I grew up. We made a major life change and moved to our 480 square foot lake home just 4 months after my mom died (we also lost her in late February, on the 23rd.)

I blog about our new life at www.livinglargeinourlittlehouse.com

Hello, True -

Mata H — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:24:34 -0500

2 months -- oh my dear the wound is so fresh at that point. I read your blog and am very happy for you that you made that call to the lawyer. I wish you well, and hope you are able to find comfort as the days pass.

--mata

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Hi Deb

Mata H — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:20:39 -0500

I was very close to my Mom, and I still cannot recall the day she died by its number. I know it was late February -- but I always have to look up when. My Dad was in December sometime before Christmas. Sometimes folks are just lousy with remembering dates. I know I am.

--Mata

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Thanks Amanda

Mata H — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:17:49 -0500

Thank you for your kind words. I too am upheld by my faith and the unconditional love that I find there. I am so sorry that you have not had the chance for closeness with your mother and father. How good it is that you have had your brother, and he you to see each other through. Although the loss will be different from the loss felt by others who have been close to their parents, and who have not had the spectre of schizophrenia to deal with, there still is a sudden finality when the news does come that they are both gone. Seems to me you are comfortable taking through things, which will help. It is as though there is a big human developmental phase that is largely kept under wraps -- and you only hit it when your folks pass. Thanks also for the very kind words about the article.

--Mata

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool