What Was Going On In Your Parents' Lives When They Were Your Current Age? (physically, vacations)

[msgsing]

They were retired and living in Florida after lifetimes of working hard and not very well paying jobs in the Midwest. It was supposed to be their dream retirement but was mitigated by years of smoking that brought on COPD for my father and Mom’s lung cancer. Both passed in their late 70’s.

[Serious Conversation]

Teaching school in rural South Carolina.

[Disgustedman]

Originally Posted by 2 Scoops

Father: Still working for the phone company.

Mother: Started getting arthritis (which got really bad over the years). Her mother (grandmother died). She
was heartbroken. Then parents took in my father's elderly aunt for some caregiving. We had a small house and 4 kids were still at home. It was a stressful time.

Mom: Putting in 40-60 hours a week, and even working weekends as caregiver for 4-6 adults. She knew nothing but work, work, work. This was 1983

She was finally forced to retire at 70, kept falling down, lived to 84, but started dementia.

Dad checked out years earlier.

[Southern man]

At my age , 84, my dad had been dead 4 years. He retired at age 65 from a textile job and lived the remainder of his life living on $400 a month SS. Obviously, did not do much travel or other retirement stuff. It made a huge impression on me and I haven’t forgotten the lesson.

[leadfoot4]

Father, deceased for 12 years. Mother, still missing my father, and trying to get by.............

[Stripes17]

Dad - Retired from his electronic engineering career and took a "fun for him" position as the boss' assistant at a pharmaceutical company near their home.

He would do everything from chauffeuring the boss and wife , as well as visiting VIP's to and from the airport. He also had to keep tabs on the construction of their new corporate facility ensuring things were getting done as they were scheduled.


Mom - She was in her final couple of years with the phone company at this point. She worked "with the girls" at the office and was just ticking the calendar until reaching full retirement (30 and out) with benefits for life.


By this time, they had already purchased their retirement house outside of Richmond, VA as our entire family was relocating to that area from NJ over a three year span.

[upnorthretiree]

At my age, my folks had been retired for 10 years, taking early retirement at 55 (as I did, following in their footsteps.) ten years in, they were fully enjoying retirement. They had moved to another state, to a cabin in the woods on a river, where they’d throw a line in to catch a fish for their supper. They had gotten their coast guard captains licenses, and in the summer, chartered in order to afford a sailboat. They liked it, but told us their lesson learned was when you do something you love and turn it into a business, it’s a whole different thing. You now operate according to the wishes of the customer, not according to your own wishes.

They took up cooking, mostly successfully, although the attempt at healthy cookies became family lore. Dad hunted, mom gardened, they both read in the evenings. They chopped and stockpiled wood all summer, and cross country skied in the winter. They had loads of friends and relatives visit, and also established a good friend network in their small town, starting a movie club when my brothers and I gave them a vcr, and being involved with a choir, philosophy club, and local preservation and history groups. They gave great parties a few times a year. Mom’s mother lived to 105 in a big city a few hours away, and kept her two bedroom condo after moving to assisted living. So my folks and mom’s brothers and all the cousins took lots of trips there, to enjoy the big city and to spend time with grandma. They had another 15 years of a really idyllic retirement before they decided they were too old for that life, sold up and moved to Florida for the next 5 years, followed by several years living close to me. I had retired in the meantime and was living near their old cabin in the woods, so moving near me was going home to them. After that a slow decline until things came to an end almost a decade later.

They had a good life and were always grateful and generous.

[ccm123]

They were “empty nesters”, after having raised the three of us. They lived in a large 4 bedroom house (the house we were all raised in) and wanted desperately to sell the house
and downsize into something smaller.

That year, they found a 3 bedroom house with much smaller square footage, sold their present home and moved into their smaller home.

My mother and father both felt bittersweet about selling the family home. The memories we created there will be cherished for a lifetime.

[terraaus]

When my mother was 70 she was on dialysis. She died 2 years later. My dad was in good health. He died at 90.

[mlb]

At 68 my dad had been retired 5 years. This would have been 1987. He would live 13 more years. They traveled only a little once he retired but we, as kids went home often and there were family reunions.

Mom didn’t work outside the home - but when she was 68 she helped me plan my wedding in 1989.

I miss them. But I’m glad they didn’t have to live through COVID.