Illustration by Drew Shannon
First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide.
For older adults, just as for students, early September can be busy.
I showed up at the senior centre just after the start time of 9 a.m. thinking I’d just be able to waltz in. I wanted to sign up for a fabric-wrapped rope bowl-making workshop and two speaker talks. Instead, I was handed a number – No. 47! – and gazed into a packed main floor resembling a walk-in health clinic, and another senior crowd, several people with walkers, were also seated in the dining room. Memoir writing and fitness classes were hot, I learned. Volunteers called out numbers notifying those ticket holders they could move from the outer area into chairs in the registration area. I still had a while to wait.
Conversational Spanish is full! Beginner Tai Chi is full! And Getting to know your iPhone is full!, I read all this in the updated online program guide as I wait. It always surprises me what’s popular and what isn’t; sometimes I find I’ve signed up for something so unpopular that it doesn’t have enough people to run. Who wouldn’t like winter camping?
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The previous evening, my finger had hovered on the keyboard to sign up online at 7 p.m. sharp for acrylic painting at a nearby community centre. I got in, and a few minutes later a friend e-mailed, “only four spots left! Register a.s.a.p!” The next day another friend touted that she’d snagged the last spot.
When I was younger, the competition was about getting my children into swim lessons or the right French immersion school. Now as older adults, the jockeying is for speaker talks and activities geared to our own age group.
We keep hearing about the value of social stimulation, exercise and using our brains. So I try to do the right thing and take advantage of these programs. I’ve read that by 2030, all baby boomers will be older than the age of 65. That’s a lot of old people who will pack those community centres.
Life moves fast. How in a blink I seem to have moved from “Is this your first job?” to “Are you still working?” to “Do you play pickleball?”
In fall, there’s a new schedule at the gym and my Friday speakers club is restarting its meetings. I don’t need back to school clothes, but I will move the sleeveless tops and sandals to the back of the closet and make sure the sweaters are brought out.
I’ve been told that old means “when your specific life expectancy is 15 years or less.” So I thought maybe I still had some time before I’m considered old. But I recently read the best seller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals about how best to use the 4,000 weeks of our life. I did the math and realized I’m done!
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One day in my neighbourhood while waiting to cross the street, I noticed there were no cars in sight, and so I started to cross against the red light. Another younger woman suddenly appeared beside me, and said, “Happy to jaywalk with an older woman!”
I spent the next half-hour in my mind wondering what she meant. Am I so slow I’d be hit by a car first? Or if I break the law, she could, too? But mostly I fussed that since my grey hair was under my hat and my jacket was pink, how did she decide I was older?
I often arrive early at the Lifelong Learning classes on a university campus to hang out in the coffee shop as if I’m just starting school. In reality, I am being pursued by the university as a potential financial donor in my will. But I may be going to bankrupt signing up for all these activities to preserve my brain and body.
A year and a half ago, a friend and I committed to an average of 80 minutes of any kind of exercise a day, and eight different activities a month, culminating in 80,000 minutes in our new decade in 2027. We quickly realized getting 80,000 minutes each was unrealistic; we’re now aiming for 40,000 each. But we meet at the start of each month to compare what we’ve done that month.
Fortunately the new offerings nearby keep coming. I’m thinking of ukulele next term. Sign me up!
Louise Rachlis lives in Ottawa.