OCTOGENARIAN CLUB

 

                Surrounded by Edna and Dick   May 5, 2023

 "How old is OLD ? I asked my colleague, 

Dr. Dick Horn, a spry, 'sharp as a tack' therapist with 88 birthdays.  His wise reply noted that "it depends".

He, along with Edna and me, constitute 'the Octogenarian Club' of our Counseling Center. At 85, I am the young one  of our 'Club'.  He and  I continue to  carry full case loads and Edna oversees the Center in evenings. For me his answer echoed Satchel Paige's famous aphorism, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" (You probably noticed that his question is the subtitle of this blog and my nom de plume honors Satchel.

   We are part of a diverse group that met together yesterday for the first time in over three years---the onset of Covid.  After months of staff meetings via Zoom, Barbara, our Regional Director, hosted a gathering of staff and therapists. It was good meeting several of the under-30 year old Residents who have joined the practice in the interim.

  "When are you going to retire?" is the question  frequently posed to the three of us. "Why retire when what we do provides us such a sense of satisfaction and purpose?" is the gist of our replies.

    Just this past week a client nearing the magic '65' for retiring from his faculty position affirmed his need for something to do thereafter that would afford him a better alternative to sitting in the rocking chair and possibly being  part of the statistic of men who die within a couple of years of retirement.

    Ageism is real; if you want documentation, do a search of 'ageism and health care'. My body no  longer can do the 'first baseman's stretch' that I did as a high school athlete; and Dick can no longer pitch like his 12 year old self did in the first ever Little League World Series.  But the  all too easy assumption that chronological age means cognitive decline is, frankly, insulting. Apparently, a would-be contemporary politician with Presidential aspirations has suggested  a  cognitive exam for political candidates 75 and older.

   In an April 2023 article in Atlantic magazine, Jennifer Senior cites research that differentiates between how old  one is chronologically and how old  someone feels attitudinally.  Feeling younger is not a kind of dysfunctional denial; it can indicate a form of   optimism and gratitude that one is still useful.

    How 'old' are you?  

         Satchel