Finding Old Stuff

I was looking for some papers today and naturally found other things I wanted to read.  One was a long quote from a book by Susan Jacoby called Never Say Die.

She was musing about what a person cannot do if they want to be considered aging successfully. (Who judges whether a person is aging successfully? Are there still gossiping old women who do that sort of thing?) "A person cannot complain about health problems to anyone younger; weep openly for a friend or lover who has been dead more than a month or two, admit to depression or loneliness; express nostalgia for the  past; or voice any fear of future dependency because of poor health, poor finances or the worst scourge of old age, Alzheimer's disease. American society also looks with suspicion on old people who demand to be left alone to deal with aging in their own way. One must look neither too needy for companionship nor too content with solitude to be considered a roll model for healthy aging rather than a discontented geezer or crone. It's great  to be old -as long as one does not manifest too many of the typical problems of advanced age."

Well! I can't imagine anyone telling me how to live my life now. I really don't care if American Society thinks I'm aging successfully! I try to do the best I can and fail several times a day.  I respect Ms. Jacoby's right to her opinion but my sister-in-law and I talk every day by Skype and we don't judge others who are aging - well almost never.

Besides, what would we have to talk about if we didn't share our daily happenings and struggle. We are more interested in our boring lives than other people's business!