AGING EXPERTS PLAN FOR OLD AGE

Aging experts come in all shapes and sizes.

And ages.

They don’t need to be a hundred years old to be an aging expert.

Or a PhD Gerontologist.

Gerontology is the study of the aging process and the problems that elderly individuals might encounter. Professionals in this field typically study and find ways to treat physical, mental, emotional, and social problems.

When aging experts are also amateur Gerontologists, the good times roll.

That’s when a mean old man full of spite and hate becomes more understandable. You may know such a person; you may be one.

Understanding bad behavior is a start. The mean old man yells all the time because he’s hard of hearing? Good, it’s not personal.

Old Meanie is a hermit because he doesn’t trust his body to function according to plan? He stays home to avoid being in public with a pant-load because he couldn’t find a public restroom.

Hasn’t that happened to everyone.

Old Yeller is on new meds and he’s having a bad reaction? Doctors who should know better than trying new meds on old patients need to check themselves.

An ornery old man doesn’t get better with a hit or miss approach.

The Real Work Is In Helping Change Happen

One aging man had it down better than anyone.

Single after his wife passed, this retiree settled into a routine that worked for him.

Sharp and stylish and always standing up for the underdog, he had a social circle of all ages.

From men he’d worked with, to family, to a woman-friend who wanted to be more, he was as busy as he wanted to be.

Fit enough to live alone without supervision, he enjoyed watching ball games, movies, and THE NEWS.

He traveled with other sports fans up and down the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego visiting friends, family, and stadiums.

A man who liked his time with others and time alone, he seemed well adjusted and looked forward to each new day.

He was one of the amateur aging experts with a good take on the process.

A man who knew his limits, he worked it right to the edge.

The Other Old Man Stage Of Life

“I’m afraid to close my eyes because I don’t know where I’ll end up.”

This was an old man with Parkinson’s Disease who had progressed from home care to assisted living to waiting it out in a hospital bed. Waiting for what, you ask?

Death. He was waiting for death. And it all played out as a normal part of life. It didn’t look normal, especially for his wife at his bedside.

She looked like she might go before him. That wasn’t normal.

A couple in their eighties, they’d had a good run. Was it over? Not if someone stepped up.

Another young aging expert asked a few questions, got the wrong answers, and acted.

The old man would not die in a hospital bed and take his wife with him. Instead he would find the sort of care that brightened his day.

In time he moved from death-bed candidate to family man, a role new to him. Instead of waiting on the grim reaper, he found himself in the middle of high school sports, parades, and the usual pageantry of youth.

He engaged, was engaging, and seemed to like the hustle of a house more than the hallways of patient care.

Most of all he enjoyed being a husband to his loving wife. That was the key. Now he could close his eyes and sleep and wake up in familiar surroundings and familiar faces.

Aging Experts Today

The same news you’d hear from doctors explaining unexpected outcomes, “Everyone is different,” comes with aging.

Everyone ages differently. Old age used to be around 40. Then 50. Then real old at 60.

Better living through science bumped old age past 70 to 80, and those 80 year olds are a handful.

Full of enthusiasm and experience for new adventures, those are the people you see in European travel commercials.

I met an old woman who flexed her conditioning with, “I walked ten miles yesterday.” I was a skeptic.

Then, during a group activity of touring Versailles, she walked me down. I struggled answering the question of where to go next because I was cooked. I’d been surprised by the fitness level I’d seen unexpectedly in others before, but this lady was the shit.

Ten miles was her warmup from the looks of her after the first ten.

Old age can happen overnight. Go to bed as one person, wake up as another. Or don’t wake up. You don’t get any older after that.

In the meantime, why not find something of interest, something that has the power to last more than ten minutes. If it’s not new places, it’s new food, new projects, new people.

Older people can do this. They see patterns and can connect dots others don’t see. Since everyone is so damn different, why not create a way to bring them together.

That’s what aging experts work toward. Find a Modern Elder and check in.