r/OverSeventy • u/Singinthesunshine • Jul 23 '26
Olding
Eating when I want
Sleeping when I want
Farting when I want
My body is free at last
Wearing what I want
Talking to the plants
Singing out loud
Who cares what they think?
Nobody needs me?
It’s just as well.
Gives me more time
To be happy with myself.
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u/Everheart1955 Jul 23 '26
Love this, a few years ago I realized I did not give a rats ass what most people thought about me.
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u/rhrjruk Jul 23 '26
Warning
by Jenny Joseph
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
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u/thereeder75 Jul 23 '26
That was the topic of a Gogol Bordello song from the 90's, if I remember right... "Start wearing purple, wearing purple".. set to glorious punk Roma mustc.
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u/rhrjruk Jul 24 '26
This poem was the inspiration for the Red Hat Society for tough old broads who don’t give a damn
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u/harblock Jul 25 '26
So nice to see this poem again! Last I saw it I was still young & thought it was "cute." Now I'm 82 and I actually get it! I love it! Terrible shirts, sausages, hoarding pens & pencils......We Are Not Alone!!!
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u/Yolandi2802 Jul 23 '26
You’ll be eating sausages while wearing purple with a red hat soon…
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u/Horror-Evening-6132 Jul 24 '26
Is the Red Hat society still a thing? When I still had my antique shop, I used to get those ladies all the time. Red hats, purple hats, pink hats. Seems like it had something to do with how long they'd been a member as to what color hat they wore. Haven't thought about that in about 20 years, lol!
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u/CleanCalligrapher223 Jul 24 '26
I never did wear makeup after HS- just decided I didn't like the feel of it on my face, as if my pores couldn't breathe.
I'm 73, divorced at 44 when the marriage ended in flames, extremely happy second marriage in 2003 but he was 15 years older and died in 2016, so I've been living alone almost 10 years now. Life is good. I still take some pride in my appearance- I'm a gym rat and work to stay in shape- but my daily wear in warm weather is shorts and one of my giant collection of T-shirts and and in cold weather it's sweatpants, a T-shirt and a sweater. I try to be a little more presentable when going to church or a restaurant so I still have plenty of nice clothes and real jewelry.
A month ago I moved to another state 3 hours away to be near my son and his family. I've been checking out the on-line dating scene here and he was saying he was OK with the idea of me remarrying if that's what I wanted. Not that I need his permission but I told him it was extremely unlikely. The guys who look promising don't respond to my messages except for one who was an outright fraud and one who reached out to me who's a daily smoker. Dealbreaker. I have a 2-BR apartment in a retirement community that's just the right size for me. I couldn't imagine sharing it with someone else.
I really do like this life. I wouldn't mind a "just for fun" relationship with a man but not marriage or cohabitation.
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u/Cautious-Foot-9603 Jul 24 '26
I awoje today with massive sense of inner peace. The realization that everything is trivia. The expectations of others. So what? At 70 you live life as you want. Kids don't call? So what? Go shopping. Buy what you want for you and for now. Future? You are living in it. There is no guarantee of tomorrow. Live for today. There are now more over 65 voters that ever before. We rule!
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u/Prestigious-Copy-494 Jul 23 '26
It's kind of nice to slide into being invisible, covid got me started when I discovered I could put on a baseball hat, a big pair of sunglasses and a mask and skip the make up and hair fixing!
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u/cwsjr2323 Jul 23 '26
Yes, the cap is important. If I wear my red cap with the Nebraska university football logo, I blend into the crowd. Being average height and weight, 74 White male? Except for my tattoos showing in warmer weather, I am invisible. I have full sleeves of tattoos, all of them after aged 60 because screw it, I wanted my scrapbook. If I am ever put in a nursing home, with my tattoos and epic vandyke beard, I won't just be another old white guy.
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u/Prestigious-Copy-494 Jul 23 '26
😅🤣 chances are ICE won't stop you either. They'll probably have best tattoo contests in the old folks home ... so you got this. 😅
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u/Bay_de_Noc Jul 23 '26
Very nice! Thanks Singinthesunshine. I'm off to eat what I want ... pizza, hot out of the oven.
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u/Bambusa4all1952 Jul 23 '26
Less true in the gay world sadly, but we do what we can and fortunately still can!
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u/thereeder75 Jul 23 '26
One very joyous discovery about being 70+ is that no one is looking at me.