I listened to a Beatles song recently (►►►) and it got me thinking.   I am 64 years old now and when I first heard that song in 1967, I was a lot younger and felt that I would be old and crotchety by now.  If you had asked me, two decades ago, about how I envisaged my future self at this age I would have said happy but alone, not going out very much, not doing very much; in fact I had a decidedly negative me in mind, but, now that I have arrived, I still go out every day, do a part-time job and have a moderate social life, as do many of my friends.  In fact I may look 64 years old but, apart from a few nagging physical aches and pains, I feel that I have the psychological outlook of a person at least 20 years younger.  Now I come to think of it so do many of my friends of a similar age in general? 

I have a cousin who is my age, but his life has taken a really different turn to mine.  He has suffered a mild stroke and lives alone.  He is not able to get out much, or take care of himself as well as he used to, and now has four carers visit each day.  He tells me that they are very friendly and he enjoys their visits on the whole, but the visits are brief because of their heavily monitored schedules, and everything they do seems to be done really quickly.  He has also mentioned to me that they put on their rubber gloves as soon as they arrive; a practice, he accepts, that they need to maintain to minimise the spread of infection but which always makes him feel unclean in a small way.  He also revealed that when he has family visitors some of them seem to avoid getting too close to him too.

He only mentioned it in passing, but I am his age, and I thought it would not matter to me by now but I realised how much I still value the hand shake or hug that accompanies my friend’s greetings when I meet them.  I also realise that my perception of older people has changed quite a lot during the 50 years since that Beatles single first came out. 

Hearing that you are loved is special, but the added hug, kiss on the cheek or on the forehead, makes all the difference.

LY, Blackheath.

LPG found some other opinions on the subject for you

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