Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Good lord no. they have 30 years of working hard, paying off student loans and mortgages ahead of them. I have to look forward to, very soon, kicking back and doing nothing more than exactly what I want to do, which will NOT include working.
^^^^^ This. I wouldn't go back to my twenties for anything. Life is so much better now. I wouldn't mind having perfect vision and hearing again, though (not to mention my original hair color), but on the whole I'm good with being older. It has so many advantages.
We were taking the scenic route home from brunch today. We passed a house I remembered from a garage sale some months ago. A young couple had just finished their medical studies at Stanford and were selling all their books and household goods. They had jobs waiting for them back East. At the time I congratulated them on this exciting and milestone event but I remember feeling a little deflated inside. Their lives were just beginning and ours are about to end.
Do you ever feel this way?
Look at the other side of the coin. They probably have massive student loan debt. If they both went to medical school on student loans, they could owe as much as half a million dollars collectively. That's not something I envy. Of course, you might feel differently, but I don't.
There seems to be a whole lot of denial of death on this thread.
I can't fathom thinking "I'd rather be dead than have a student loan" or "I'd rather be dead than have peer pressure" or "I'd rather be dead than not have a pension".
(when 401(k)'s are available instead of pensions, and facing any peer pressure worry pertaining to myself took and takes about 5 seconds of my thoughts)
Last edited by matisse12; 05-07-2017 at 09:55 PM..
I've been thinking as I read the responses to OP's question. I think I can say that the only thing I envy, if envy is even the right word, is the physical attributes of my younger years -- the body, the fitness level, and the energy.
Other than that, I LOVE being just where I am, and although I know it could happen any day, I am looking forward to at least 30 more years (I'm 65 and am planning my 100th birthday party -- well I'm inviting people anyway!)...my way of saying let's keep looking forward.
I feel in so many ways that I'm just getting started, that there are SO many things that I want to do yet, to learn, to experience...my only frustration is that right now I have some physical limitations (not permanent) that are preventing me from doing as much in these first months of my retirement as I want to do. And then again, I understand it's not unusual to take a little "time off" when first retired to regroup (i.e. sleep, be lazy, doodle around, etc.) before getting on with the things yet to do...me, I want to learn how to make pottery, become fluent in Spanish and then French, take ballroom dancing lessons, start practicing Yoga, finish writing my novel, horseback ride at a gallop over the plains again, and ... well, I'd like to fall madly in love again.
So no, I don't envy anything else about the younger generations...I love being a Boomer and hope I make my 100th party wearing a tiara and purple silk! As Beatrice Wood once quipped to Diane Sawyer when asked to what she attributed her longevity (she was 98 about that time), she replied without batting an eye: "Chocolates and younger men"...my hero!!!!
I envy them their trim young bodies and their energy and their bones/muscles/ligaments that don't ache. Other than that, I'm pretty darn happy being old and retired. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.....
I've been thinking as I read the responses to OP's question. I think I can say that the only thing I envy, if envy is even the right word, is the physical attributes of my younger years -- the body, the fitness level, and the energy.
Other than that, I LOVE being just where I am, and although I know it could happen any day, I am looking forward to at least 30 more years (I'm 65 and am planning my 100th birthday party -- well I'm inviting people anyway!)...my way of saying let's keep looking forward.
I feel in so many ways that I'm just getting started, that there are SO many things that I want to do yet, to learn, to experience...my only frustration is that right now I have some physical limitations (not permanent) that are preventing me from doing as much in these first months of my retirement as I want to do. And then again, I understand it's not unusual to take a little "time off" when first retired to regroup (i.e. sleep, be lazy, doodle around, etc.) before getting on with the things yet to do...me, I want to learn how to make pottery, become fluent in Spanish and then French, take ballroom dancing lessons, start practicing Yoga, finish writing my novel, horseback ride at a gallop over the plains again, and ... well, I'd like to fall madly in love again.
So no, I don't envy anything else about the younger generations...I love being a Boomer and hope I make my 100th party wearing a tiara and purple silk! As Beatrice Wood once quipped to Diane Sawyer when asked to what she attributed her longevity (she was 98 about that time), she replied without batting an eye: "Chocolates and younger men"...Google her...fascinating life. And I believe she wrote her first novel at the age of 103, shortly before she died: it was a book of women's erotica.
I love this phrase: "We don't stop playing because we get old...we get old because we stop playing."
The choice posed was between starting a new life and dying in the not distant future. It seems many (most) so far on this thread choose dying....rather than starting a new life.
Last edited by matisse12; 05-07-2017 at 10:10 PM..
I do not envy anyone for any reason and honestly do not understand those who do envy others.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As Beatrice Wood once quipped to Diane Sawyer when asked to what she attributed her longevity (she was 98 about that time), she replied without batting an eye: "Chocolates and younger men"...my hero!!!! 
