OMG! It’s Official. I’m a Card Carrying Senior

By Kerry Cue

Sibylesque Kerry Cue Quote 4

Adele HorinAdele Horin runs the fabulous and informative Coming of Age Blog. In her article, I hate my Senior’s Card, Adele captures the emotions many of us feel from ambivalence to downright hostility when we are first declared a certified senior.

 ‘What boomer can relate to being a “senior”?‘ Adele asks, adding, ‘It reminds me of senior centres where very old people play bingo. I recently cycled 280 km beside the Danube River. I lift weights in the gym. Just a few months ago I was called a worker.’

Adele’s husband suggests she is ‘in denial’, but she protests that now she is lumped in the same age category as her 84-year-old mother. Is this fair? Is it accurate? Could some other word be used to describe ‘younger’ seniors?

Sibylesque Body Builder 86

Adele hates all the baggage the comes with her seniors card, but will she leave it at home. No. She loves the discounts.

 We, THE SIBYLS, declare Adele Horin an Honorary Sibyl for her brutal honesty, sharp observations and her meticulous and thoughtful reporting on age-related topics.

 

Adele HorinAdele Horin has worked as a journalist in Washington, New York and London covering politics, society and economics. She wrote about social issues for The Sydney Morning Herald for 18 years. Then in 2012, at 62 years of age, she retired from the SMH “not to spend the day in a dressing gown but to think, write, participate, and to engage with my generation in a different way” And her blog, Coming of Age,certainly does engage with her generation on multiple levels.

Photo Source: Coming of Age Blog, pinterest.

HOME

Welcome

Roman border  dark red

dark red quote 1

                                                     

We cannot let others define aging for us.

….We must, as we have done before,

dark red quote 2

…………….redefine this stage for ourselves.

Sibylesque Signature dark redRoman border  dark red

 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

What the media doesn’t tell you!

Frankly, my dear, they’re over you!

the-tibertine-sibylIf you have found little of interest in the lifestyle pages across all media platforms, there is a reason. After 54-years of age we are of no interest to Marketing. Apparently, we are ‘too set in our ways’. So, apart from some tragic and cheap ads spruiking pre-paid funerals and incontinence pads, we do not attract the advertising dollar. Therefore editors of magazines, newspapers, websites and blogs aimed at women couldn’t care less about our issues.

There are lots of ads for dubious anti-aging and slimming products, much like the 1950s ads (below) but with their own Facebook Page. But the anti-wrinkle creams and slimming products do not target us. They are aimed at 40, 30 and even 20 year olds. They have more to fear from aging and being overweight than us.50s chin strap We’ve already had to face certain realities. Besides, we’ve been applying goops for 40+ years and we must have tried scores of diets with little success!!! We’ll look at the real science ( and not the ‘radiessence’ or ‘luminosity’) of face creams and rubbish diets later.

But there are many issues such as health, sex and self-perception that change after 54 years of age and that we want to discuss. If you are looking at retirement and your daughter wants the BIG wedding, do you have to pay for it? What if you are divorced? What if it’s her 2nd wedding?

How do you deal with a neurotic daughter-in-law? Or a control-freak son-in-law? Or vice-versa?

Cole Swimsuit Ad 1953 And we wanted those curves!

Cole Swimsuit Ad 1953
And we wanted those curves!

Are you prepared to look after grandchildren one day a week? Two days? How would you react if your daughter handed you a spread sheet scheduling every minute of that one day?

If you didn’t have children, are you now being swamped by the 2nd wave of child-centric conversations as your friends become grandparents?

Moreover, how did any of us even produce children with the hilariously vague ‘sex education‘ we received in the 60s or 70s?

We, The Sibyls, are smart, vibrant and interesting women. It is the intention of this blog to reinvent aging. We’re doing this for ourselves. Welcome.

Sibylesque Signature dark red

HOME