Old Age Sucks!

I awoke one morning and suddenly I had a new identification. I was a “Senior.” Some call it the “Golden Years” but that term must have been coined by a young person. When your health starts deteriorating, there is little golden about it. Let's just call it what it is—OLD! Long after I reached the age I could eat from the senior menu, I refused. That was for “old” people and I wasn't old. I threw away all mail advertisements from AARP, thinking “I ain't old.” I don't even know exactly when I went from being young, to being “young at heart,” a polite way of saying she's “too old to cut the mustard anymore.” All I know is, I love eating from senior menu now.

WHEN YOUNGER people ask if I work and I reply, “I'm retired,” invariably their response is, “I can't wait to be retired!” I felt that way for many years, but I never considered what goes along with not having to be there when the bell rings. When all the stress of a job and running here and there at break neck speed is gone, your body says, “Now I, too, can relax.” That's when your body falls apart. All the aches, pains, and bothersome other ailments you have ignored for years suddenly take over your life. You realize that all the things you imagined you would be able to do if you were only retired is not your decision now, it is your body's.

BEING OLD has some definite advantages. You can think more of the past and the happy memories you have stored in your brain, because you don't have to spend time planning for the future. You are living in that future you always planned for. You can speak your mind unfiltered without fear of reprisal because that's what's expected from old people. You have more time to find things that are constantly getting lost. Your social calendar consists mainly of doctor's appointments and funerals. The funerals become more frequent the older you get. When you're old, it takes more strength and resilience than at any other time in your life.

THE BIGGEST disadvantage of being old is you are always a target for scammers and those that are willing (and ready) to take advantage of your kind nature. George and I recently had such an incident, and it not only changed the way I look at myself, but the way my children look at me. That's the most painful part. “Mama, I can't believe you, of all people, fell for that!” George and I have helped a long list of family and friends get through a tough time and to get back on their feet. Helping people gave us happiness and we never had a bad experience. Until now. I kinda looked at it as our legacy. Now that has been sullied by one instance of failing to do my due diligence.

THAT'S WHAT sucks about being old. If you make a mistake when you're young, your age is used as a defense. If you're old and make a mistake, people immediately wonder if you're losing it. I assure everyone, including my children and any grifter that sees me as a target, I have learned my lesson. I will no longer be helping people—perhaps only animals.

ONCE AGAIN, a lot happened in the news last week. Mike Pence created a Go Fund Me Account, but he calls it a personal PAC. He will use the money raised to pay for his legal counsel he hired to defend himself in this “Russia” thing. Trump is keeping his promise to create jobs, as evidenced by all the lawyers who have been hired by his administration.

 

TRUMP GAVE Cuba to Russia. He rolled back the deal President Obama made with Cuba and then spoke very inflammatory language to the Cuban government. In doing so, he drove them straight into Putin's arms. This was Marco Rubio's payback to continue to be Trump's ally in the Senate. The only people who are happy about this roll-back are Little Marco's supporters in Little Havana in Miami. Rubio's re-election is certainly not important to me, and compared to having Russia troops located 90 miles from our coast, it's not a good trade-off.

IT WAS revealed this week as I stated in a recent column, Trump was not vindicated. Instead, he is being investigated for Obstruction of Justice. To Trump I say, “Fire Robert Mueller! I double-dog dare you.”

MEANWHILE, thirteen Republican men are meeting behind closed doors preparing our new Health Care bill. When they are finished, we are told it will be voted on by using Mitch McConnel's nuclear option which would only require 60 Republican votes to pass, without the American people seeing it first. Remember when the bobble heads stood with Trump in the Rose Garden celebrating the passing of the great healthcare bill? Trump now says that was a bad bill and was “mean.” Expect no less from this bill. Sight unseen.

NOT ONLY are the Republicans shutting the American people out of having any say into crafting this all-important health care bill, the Democrats who were also elected to represent us, have not seen it either. It's supposed to be a part of the checks and balances but everything is out of balance. That's why, last week after a mentally ill gun nut opened fire on House Republicans, I wasn't the slightest bit phased by all the talk of ending the divisiveness, reaching across the aisle, toning down the vitriolic language, and all that other kumbaya crapola.