Dear Keeton , Here’s what ‘old people’ do

Dear Keeton:

Here is my reply when you asked during the HHS Leadership class: “What do old people do all day?”

I wish I’d told you we do whatever we want to do, but that wouldn’t be what usually happens.

As to your second question, “Do you just sleep late?”

Yes, some of us do, including Yours Truly. Others get up with the chickens (that means early) because they’ve always done it that way.

Our routine includes going out to check the mail. We’re disappointed if there isn’t even a bill in the box. We usually remember to check our email, and some Facebook addicts check on their Friends from daylight to midnight. Some of us regularly check obituary pages in newspapers, and on-line.

Daily schedules are determined by doctor appointments, hospital tests, hair cuts, family events, and TV shows (even though we know how to set the recorder).

Some senior citizens still have full or part-time paying jobs, and many of us need our monthly Social Security checks. That’s why we want you to go to college and get a good job to support us by paying in to our (and maybe your) retirement fund.

We enjoy eating out, and coordinate where we’ll eat with the time and place of doctor appointments. We especially love early-bird and senior citizen discounts, and drive-thru restaurants continue as favorites. Also, drive-thru banks and pharmacies so we can throw a coat over our pajamas, and keep on our house shoes.

More and more of us old people have become fulltime caregivers to an ailing spouse, or another adult family member. Many care for their pre-school grandchildren, or great-grands, during the day. Some raise their grandchildren, or another family member’s child.

We could sit home and count our age spots and bruises that appear overnight, but prefer to be out and around others. Some of us hold onto walkers, or are in wheelchairs, because we’re always afraid we’ll fall and break the other hip.

That’s why many old people stay close to home and play cards at the Senior Citizen Centers, go to Lacey pitch parties, or play bridge in Kingfisher. That’s because our parents did that for entertainment back in The Olden Days.

You’d be surprised at the number of 65-and-older people who keep our small-town businesses going, serve on community boards, and are also major volunteers in our churches, schools, and civic groups.

My high school journalism teacher (yes, she is still alive) volunteers in an OU paleontology lab. D.D. is an OU grad, has been a high school and college j-school teacher all over the U.S. and said she never expected to be “enthralled” with that kind of work.

She was also surprised that after more than 50 years as a journalist and an editor that I’d become a teacher to high school seniors.

“Wrong!” I told her, Keeton, just as I told your class on the first day, “I’m not a teacher, or a preacher, I’m a talker.” “You got that right!”

“You got that right!” D.D. said. D.D. said.

That also explains the D I got in her sophomore class.

She, and reporters and editors at the then-OKC Times influenced me to be a journalist while I was in high school. The staff at the daily afternoon paper were the best. Their work ethics showed me later in the workplace who I wanted, or didn’t, want to be.

You’re a kind and friendly young man, and I’m sure after a couple of years at UCO you’ll decide your direction in life. It may take different turns along the way, but even if there are a few bumps along the way I’m certain you’ll find your way.

My hope for you is to have a wonderful adult life, then become an old man who enjoys morning and afternoon naps the way us old folks do in 2022.

Sincerely,

Barb