Uncharted waters. I have realised I should be receiving my state pension next year, and turning 65 has focused my mind on my age for some reason. My sixties are not what I had in mind many years’ ago, but that was before the changes to state pension age for women, and before the pandemic changed the world forever. My view of people in their sixties is coloured by my upbringing amongst elderly grandparents and young parents (my mother was just 23 whereas her mother was 40). In my fifties I had a vision of gently driving along the back roads of England, exploring and stopping at interesting places. Quite apart from the previously mentioned changes, my feet have suffered with arthritis and operations on each foot. The net result is I do not drive long distances any more and find stop-start driving uncomfortable and tiring. I have given a couple of talks recently, and am busily preparing two more. This is something completely outside my parents, and grandparents, world. My grandparents played cribbage, grandad went for walks, grandma did crosswords and crochet, my parents enjoyed drives in the country, bike rides, allotments and cooking. I don’t think anything prepared them for someone like me! The life I lead in so-called ‘retirement years’ is new to me…uncharted waters indeed. I am feeling my way. Exercising to keep fit and supple, still trying to make a viable living from my writing, helping a friend in his 90s to be a recognised space artist. My auntie had a zest for living, my uncle enjoyed creating things out of wood, another friend took up A level maths for fun in her 80s, my mother-in-law in her 80s travelled solo to Canada. All these have helped reformulate my view of aging. No one knows how much time is left and I intend to make the most of it and complete all my outstanding projects as soon as possible.
Taking a peek at the speck of blue sky in a run of wet, windy, days.
Bravely poking through the soil, the wet soil, despite the deluge and wind.
Karen Hedges 