As a kid, when I first figured out how old my grandparents were they were in their 60s.
Grandparents by definition are super old, while parents are just plain old.
Kae Reed plans to stay active for decades to come. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
I just turned 60 last month. Does that make me super, duper old? Yes, by my younger self’s definition.
I joke with my 90-year-old mom that she is ancient and I am old. She even made some reference to that on my birthday card.
Until June all four of mom’s kids are in their 60s. It’s that once every 10-year phenomenon where we are in the same decade for a few months.
Being 60 today is not what it was in my grandparents’ era. Presumably we are eating better and are more active. Medicine is evolving. So many factors contribute to life getting better, and people living longer.
I don’t want to live “forever”—but several more years would be great. Too many things I want to do, places I want to travel, things I want to see.
But there is something about turning 60. It’s significant. Do I have one-third of my life left? Longer? Shorter? It is a definite mile marker. I feel like I’ve crossed some threshold that I can’t quite explain.
I realize no one is promised tomorrow. I have friends who never made it to 60. Friends parents who never did. Family who never did.
Being 60 is a wake-up call that there are definitely fewer tomorrows than there are yesterdays.
I tend to use my birthday like some do New Year’s—to think about the coming year, what I want from it, goals, etc.
I had a week to myself to decompress from daily life, to not work. Too often when I travel my computer is my appendage. I’m not alone in that reality. Our phones and other electronic devices keep us connected in ways my parents and grandparents didn’t have to during their work lives.
This was a good reminder for me—life goes on whether I respond promptly or not. It’s OK not to be accessible. An outgoing message on an email and/or phone can be liberating—people know you aren’t ignoring them, even though you really are ignoring them for however long you are gone.
I’m going to be doing that more often—shutting down the outside noise. I have a few other goals for the near and long term.
I feel good about turning 60. I look around at the people who’ve met this milestone and they give me inspiration. Bring on 70.
Thank you for reminding us that age is truly just a number but as we age: Embrace what makes you happy and thoroughly enjoy what you’re doing without life’s daily distractions when possible, Decompress by not jumping to respond immediately when not necessary, Actually try to visit the people that bring you joy and do those things you’ve often said you want to as “someday never comes”….
I so agree, turning “60” is that moment where you have to reflect and sounds like you’ve done some lovely reflecting :) ps. you’re still young/
60 is the new 40.
As a person who turned 80 a couple of months ago, your essay on being 60 really resonated with me, as decade birthdays have always commanded my attention.
I’d like to share something which has been one of the most satisfying things about getting older. This is the intellectual jollies that come from being able to make connections among various experiences of a longer life, whether from reading, movies, personal experience, etc. An example follows.
A while back, my book club read The Water Dancer by Ta-nehisi Coates. This novel turns upon the experiences of a Virginia slave who becomes involved in the Underground Railroad in the 1830s and 40s. At that time, the soil was so impoverished that tobacco and other crops were no longer profitable and many slaves were being sold to landowners in states farther west where the land was still fertile. I remembered that the book Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery contained a chapter examining the role of worn out soil in the coastal southeastern states as one of the drivers leading to the Civil War. I recalled the need for more land, but upon rereading the book, I discovered that I had forgotten a key element – the “crop” had changed from agricultural products to humans.
Another experience which I am enjoying is finding out that my age does not prevent me from learning new things, which was always interesting and continues to be the case.
None of this denies the difficulty of dealing with the multiple losses of serious old age. However, I suspect that many people besides me enjoy a number of aspects of getting older.
Thank you for sharing!