Becoming 60 - Part II

Part I of this series on becoming 60 was posted almost a month ago. I was prompted to write about what I was thinking as I approached by 60th birthday this year after reading May Sarton’s book about the same time period in her life. In this second post on the topic - I am focusing on how I see this time as the staging for the rest of my life in a similar way that my early 20s were the staging time for my career. The new staging was initiated by leaving a 40 year career behind and beginning to make choices about the future I wanted rather than simply proceeding the same way my career decisions of 40 years ago directed. There are similarities between now and when I was in my early 20s: 

• Lots of decisions in a short period of time
• Perceiving an abundance of opportunities
• Good health 

There are some differences too: 

• Decisions made early in my life (like college major, when/who to marry, when/if to have children) tended to be narrowing while now the decisions tend to be broadening.
• Financial considerations were high on the list for most decisions in my 20s; now they are still a consideration but they are not major and often not limiting.
• Now I am more aware that the elders that have known me my whole life will not be there for my whole lifetime and that awareness influences my decisions about spending time with them. 

I’m not nearly at the end of the bevy of decisions but there are themes that are emerging.

Getting rid of excess baggage. The initial aspects have been in terms of my weight and the years of accumulated stuff filling up the house. But I see this theme continuing - moving to a house that is better suited to our needs (and not as large), thinking about the number and kind of vehicles we need, etc.

Building in variety. Change and life are so mingled; finding a comfortable amount of variety is probably one of the keys to happiness and, for me, I am happiest when I make choices about at least some of the changes coming my way. Continuing to taking Coursera courses - and looking for other similar learning opportunities - is one way to build in variety. Volunteering is a wonderful way to meet new people and ‘do good’ for the community at the same time. Taking classes and volunteering are probably going to be the pillars of change I choose over the next few years but  I also hope there are some happy surprises too. What if I become a grandmother?

Reducing waste. Over the past few years, I have become more conscious of waste related to lots of things - but food is the one I have done the most about. Being very aware of getting the most from the food I buy: 

• Eating food before it spoils and has to be thrown away. This requires that food is purchased in a way that it can be easily consumed within the time is fresh.
• Paying attention to food preparation so that there are few that are ‘failed’ (i.e. no burned toast, no muffins where a key ingredient was left out, etc.).
• Learning to freeze portions to eat much later if I won’t be eating it quickly enough otherwise. I’ve even learned to freeze sliced bananas if I buy too many to eat fresh (they make excellent additions to smoothies).
• Not buying non-foods (like soft drinks and other foods that have calories but no nutritional value otherwise). In my mind, these have become ‘waste’ because they have no value to my body but leave behind plastic (or aluminum). Yes - recycling is better than trash but it is still waste. Why should we even have items to recycle for non-foods? 

In the first post in the series I ended by saying that I perceived the future as bright. I’ll add to it this month: I am enthusiastic about becoming 60. It is a great age to be in 2013!

Noticing Matriarchs

I am noticing matriarchs more these days…now that I am setting a pace that is my own rather than meeting the demands of a challenging career overlaid on family life. When I travel I see them on everywhere - sometimes alone, sometimes with a partner or sibling, sometimes with a grandchild. Most of them seem as comfortable as I am to reach this part of their life. Here are some that I noticed on my recent travel between Baltimore and Tucson: 

• She was sitting in the row in front of me on the flight from Denver to Baltimore - holding a grandchild that was probably between 1 and 2 years old. The child must have slept most of the flight because I didn’t notice her until we were getting off the plane when the matriarch handed the child to the man next to her (I assume the grandfather of the child) with a smile and he chuckled that the child tasted like cheesy crackers when he kissed the little girl before standing up to get off the plane.
• The two women were standing in front of the booth with materials for Arizona State Parks when I went to pick up a brochure for a park we would tour later in the week. I asked about what might be blooming at the park and they both were full of information on what to look for when we got to the park.
• The helper for our tour of a cavern - bringing up the end of the group - was a matriarch. She must have led the tours on occasion because she knew about as much as the guide, helping people understand what the guide had explained and even adding information for those around her. 

The baby boomer women are already - or will be soon - joining the matriarch ranks….and bringing their zest for life and huge talents into this stage of life. Some of us may continue in careers; others may try something completely different from their primary career either to earn money or keep from being bored; still others may become full-time grandmothers, savoring the time with young children; or some will simply do all those things they didn’t have time to do while in their primary career. Maybe we still can have it all (or at the part that we really want)!