Feeling like an old man at 40

[bearfoot]

left 72 behind. still feel good in the morning, almost. age wearings that we deal with. need a knee replaced, insurence won't pay for it yet. they should deal w/ the occurence that one has w/ arthridis. hip replaced. write down list for the store, cross it out or circle it if i don't pick it up. if wife says i forgot, have list to show it wasn't on the list in the 1st. place. enjoy being outside, even below zero, the other day, worked outside till my fingers were cruled, funny to try to take out a wallet of the pocket when fingers curled. going to have a new standard, no cell phones when family walk into the door, finished at looking at the top of their heads or the back of their necks. had to tell everyone at the table it's time to eat. since i retired i do 95% of the cooking. step son called from texas. wanted the turkey balls w/ pasta when he got back off the road. i think my small gun box w/ cable will hold all of the phones. his wife says she rather eat here than her mothers. as above ^^^^^^, different stages for different ages. always when i was a youngin i would listen to older men tell their stories, in the mill takeing a trade the old timers from the old country hardly ever explaned something until they saw you wanted to learn. evryone have a good week. take care. rich

 

[Jinglebob]

While I can count how many times a horse or mule has put me in the hospital, I can't count how many times I've been launched off the hurricane deck of a young horse or recalcitrant mule. Still, I wouldn't change those experiences for all the tea in China.

I've been upended and kicked around by some unruly critters myself. The scars I don't mind, it just shows that I've lived life.

At 68, I've finally learned to be a little more cautious.

 

[pawngal]

40, 60, 80, age is a state of mind. If you think you are old, you are.
Regardless, whatever age a person is , it beats pushing up daisies.
My kids are your age. Last summer SIL did a triathalon, a 50k and other run & bike events, daughter runs 5 & 10K events.This summer they are both going to play softball. Both are active in their church.They have 2 children, about the same age as your. My son shoots, canoes, plays league softball and lets the women chase him(he is divorced). Has his son each summer.
You need hobbies, diversified interests to keep your mind off the "age number" Keep the mind and body active. I know, in cold weather it is hard to do, have that problem myself.

 

[Xfuzz]

Dropped 42K on a Ram truck. No dad-burn CD.
"Ports" for some kind of doo-hicky instead and satellite
radio that you PAY for.

One of my girls was over Sunday and was in my "office/shop.
She asked to pop on the Oscars for a minute.
I did.....for me, they may as well been speaking Cambodian nary a clue
as to who/what they were speaking about .

 

[jack the toad]

Feeling like an old man at 40.

old at 40???
I don't wanna hear it.
I turned 60 last month plus had major back surgery about a week before my b-day and I'm still kickin... although not as high or as fast as I used to.

 

[rog8732]

"Over the hill ?!? What HILL;I didn't see no hill !!

 

[wuluf]

Someone told me this morning:
""Age is just a number like jail is just a room"

You're exactly as old as you think you are..until you're not.

 

[Iggy]

From Mule Packer:
Of course my joints ache when it gets cold. They also ache early in the morning when I crawl out of my bunk. They also remind me that they're there throughout most of the day. I don't care. Sure, it can be uncomfortable, but it's the price I have to pay for the kind of life I've led. While I can count how many times a horse or mule has put me in the hospital, I can't count how many times I've been launched off the hurricane deck of a young horse or recalcitrant mule. Still, I wouldn't change those experiences for all the tea in China.

I'm like you, I've laid on the ground and watched some of the finest buckin' horses there ever was after I took a very short ride.

From Jinglebob:
I've been upended and kicked around by some unruly critters myself. The scars I don't mind, it just shows that I've lived life.

Yup, and these last few years I have come to discover that the horses is gittin' taller and the ground is gittin' harder.

Like Dave Keith says, "I wouldn't take a million dollars for them times, and I would give a nickel for some more of them."

 

[PatAz]

40 huh ? Mid life "crisis" is just around the corner..Time to sell the mini van and buy a Corvette and trade in the wife for a new model..

Well the Corvette or other sports car is a great idea but I'm not about to trade in my wife.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Oh, I do not mean to sound as though I am overly complaining about. Every day above ground being a good one and all that. Given the older demographi. here, I am fully aware of the irony. In a way it is mystifying. When did I become so out of it, so behind the times? Five years ago? Ten? The turn of the century?

I also find irony in that my mother, a baby boomer, uses Facebook and I don't. She and her sister, my aunt, periodically unfriend each other and I have to hear about it.

Winter in Sheridan has not been that bad. Well frigid by SC standards, but no worse than what I had for the large part of my life, spent in Michigan and the Midwest. This year I am told that it is milder here than Michigan has been. It was five below the other morning, but it is in the 50s today. The sun even seems to shine more often than not.

I used to have a barber, his name was Red. Well that wasn't his real name, but he went by it. Circa 1997 he gave me a very fine haircut. Then he died. I didn't get a haircut for a year. Ever after, I just go to chain stylists. It always seemed almost sacrilegious to see a new barber. The sort of thing you have the same one for your whole life and can't replace. Like in Canada...where you get one spoon for your whole life and starve to death if you lose it...that is a law there, right?

1997 or 1998 or thereabouts seems like yesterday. But it isn't. And therein lays part of the problem.

I should probably get some whiskey and drink a medicinal glass a day. The oldest of old timers used to swear it would lubricate the joints. I always thought that sage advice.

 

[Reddog]

Reddog,

80! The docs didn't give me 60, and I'm creeping up on 62 (still stage 4. but not dead yet) Can I use you as a model?

Hoc, You're welcome to it! Hope you enjoy it as much as I have! When I have a young person out here for a shooting lesson I always tell them that I can still shoot the balls off a gnat at 25 yards and don't even wear glasses yet! Gives them something to strive for!
Layton, What is that thing in your back yard?
Dick

 

[Iggy]

I should probably get some whiskey and drink a medicinal glass a day. The oldest of old timers used to swear it would lubricate the joints. I always thought that sage advice.

All of my Grand Parents and such came to Wyoming from Missouri at the turn of the last century. They were firm believers in a glass of medicinal shine or sippin' whiskey etc.

I've kept up the tradition with a glass of Scotch. I may need to get some better Scotch or go to Whiskey as it don't seem to be workin' on the joints anymore.

 

[jarhead1178]

Im 81, father died at 87. VA cardiologist said I would I would not make it to my fathers age when I asked about my projected life expectancy. Think I'll go buy another gun to leave to my grandsons and make me feel better. I think he's wrong, still at my Marine Corps weight (173) walk straight, all lab readings good. I'll go pop in to his office on my 88 birthday if he is still alive.

 

[birdshooter]

I love that attitude jarhead! I hope I feel the same way when I'm your age. I'm 32 and definitely a young pup around these parts. Funny that two of my three best friends are 72 and 51.

 

[don5]

Gator, I have read through this entire thread and all I can say is "You have a very hard audience". No sympathy.

BTW- Wait until you turn 50.

Look at it like this. You are one year closer to retirement.
You don't want to think about the alternative.

 

[don5]

Im 81, father died at 87. VA cardiologist said I would I would not make it to my fathers age when I asked about my projected life expectancy. Think I'll go buy another gun to leave to my grandsons and make me feel better. I think he's wrong, still at my Marine Corps weight (173) walk straight, all lab readings good. I'll go pop in to his office on my 88 birthday if he is still alive.

Remember 50% of the doctors out there graduated in the bottom half of their class. Just sayin...

 

[shouldazagged]

I had my first mid-life crisis at 28.

A couple of years ago my much-younger sister (she's only 65) gave me a framed copy of a quote from the great Satchel Paige.

It said, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"

I try to remember that. Sometimes it works.

 

[Biginge]

Said it before. "I can remember when the Dead Sea was only sick." Blessed so far. Only had serious things they could fix with a knife or such. 72 ain't bad at all. I still laugh a whole lot.

 

[cttechguy]

Reading thru this thread was fun, I can agree with so many of the posts . So here's how I see this. 40 years old well Suck it up kid you still have a full decade before you can ENJOY your first mid life crises. There is a lot to look forward to as we age and you need to be ready to enjoy all the fun things you can do as you age. I'm going on 61 this year and planning my third mid life crises.

 

[Big Cholla]

I'm all but 76. I'm doing well in all categories except old Mr. Art Ritus is after me big time. I can only echo Mule Packer and Iggy in their comments about the after affects of life with large animals that can kick, bite, stomp and buck. My left shoulder is a daily reminder that I once foolishly decided to give one of my Morgan Horse Stallions a break from boredom (the breeding season was over) and take him for a good ride. We did fine until I was just entering a hard packed clay road down the side of my property, when one of those dam mares whinneyed real big to the Stallion. He got real goosey and then went to bucking big time. I finally flew over his head and landed on that left shoulder point and the side of my head on that hard clay. When the grogginess left I got up and watched the Stallion run to the fence and start foreplay with the mare which I knew full well it wasn't going to do him any good. She was already in foal. And then I have the hip that hurts when the weather is damp and cold that resulted when a perfectly docile mare, cow kicked me while she was eating and I had made the mistake of walking too close to her. My only relief is the medical quality Jacuzzi Spa hot tub that I have.
That apparatus has added years to my back and joints useful lives. ...... Big Cholla

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

It does not get better my friend, the list only gets longer and the already listed items become more obvious. Some of the people who work for me still live with their parents, and they ask about the sixties and seventies the way I asked about the 30s and 40s. It really hit home when one young staffer asked me if "Stairway to Heaven" (playing on my iPod) was "the Beatles". Learn to enjoy it.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Gator; I'm about in the same boat as you. But I turn 84 in June. Just a few aches & pains so far but can't drive at night anymore. I passed out at my gunsmiths the other day & don't remember it much. Doc said he doesn't know either. It's tough living alone so as much as I dread it I guess it's the best thing. So I will be off the Forum until I get my computer hooked up. I'm not ready to go to the "Big S&W Forum in the Sky" yet.

 

[Big Cholla]

Driving at Night?

Gator; I'm about in the same boat as you. But I turn 84 in June. Just a few aches & pains so far but can't drive at night anymore. I passed out at my gunsmiths the other day & don't remember it much. Doc said he doesn't know either. It's tough living alone so as much as I dread it I guess it's the best thing. So I will be off the Forum until I get my computer hooked up. I'm not ready to go to the "Big S&W Forum in the Sky" yet.

Dick: If the reason you won't drive at night is related to just not seeing a clearly as you once did................IMHO, it just could be related to cataracts. I didn't even realize that I had cataracts until my Ophthalmologist asked me if I would like to be referred to a surgeon for the cataract surgery that I should have. I ask all the usual questions and then ask the big one, "OK, if it is your eyes getting cataract surgery, who would be doing it?" He looked around to see if anyone could hear and then gave me a name. I did have the left eye done first and the the right eye done one month later. The operation and recovery was a piece of cake for both eyes. But, I digress............The difference in my night vision was to make a pun, the difference between night and day. My wife has the same problem and we had previously decided that we would no longer plan any driving trips at night. Well, I'm back to driving at any time of the night that I want or need to. She has not had the operation and is still very much afraid to be caught out driving after dark.

Our next door neighbor is a lead surgical RN at a Surgical Center used by many Ophthalmologist Surgeons. She told us my pick of Surgeon was "The Best" and that the results can vary considerably with skill, training and equipment used. So, I can only say it pays to shop around. ......................

 

[boatme99]

Youngsters! Ha!

 

[James&theGiant1911]

It is different when you turn 40, things I use to do all the time with regularity is now not as appealing and harder to do. I use to chase women, drink lots of beer/ booze and party till 3am but those days are long behind. Now I am not saying I am a super handsome looking guy but the women I get hitting on me now are either super old or super young. The young ones think you have money and mainly want you for that and the older ones make me feel like I am looking for a sugar mama. If your not married by 40 then you probably should not get married.

 

[Bat Guano]

I was visiting my Dad (who made it to 94!) one day and complaining that I was almost 60. He looked me in the eye and said, "I wish I was 60 again."

That shut me right up. As usual, he was dead right.

BTW, " When you hear the Meadow Larks singing in May you'll git a spring in your step and none of that minor stuff will matter."

Yup, I live to hear that first little guy let loose, sitting over there on a fence post. Prettiest music in the world.

 

[BrianE]

I think that 10:00pm is late.

I did not know what a digital native was, and I am still vague about what a millenial is.

I have no social media. No Facebook, no Twitter...and only a vague idea what other social media options exist.

I forget what the point of going to a bar is.

I have an ugly hat that wear because it is warm.

I don't know who most current actors and actresses are.

I still think of CDs and even tapes when music comes up.

1990s guns still seem new to me.

My joints hurt when it gets cold.

I have a walking stick.

I still like to browse print magazines at a newsstand.

I smoke a pipe.

My kids have Ipads in Kindergarten and 1st grade at school. I had textbooks from the fifties and sixties. Some flags still had 48 states on them in the books.

I still have a radio.

I do not know how to work my smart phone. I have trouble answering calls on it. Often I forget to charge it.

Getting a haircut seems like too much bother.

I have a glass of wine daily, not because I want, but because it is like medicine.

The only women who look at me look old. Am I that old? Ack, I am.

I'm gonna be 36 in June. Minus the pipe, walking stick and wine, I think we're related haha.......

 

[S&W Fan]

To paraphrase Indiana Jones- it ain't the years but the mileage.

 

[luangtom]

Forty, huh? Our oldest son is forty. Guess that makes me really old......at 63.

 

[williamlayton]

I just hurt all over more than anyplace else.
Blessings