Hang in there toots.  I hope you make through this down time.  Life is hard.  Overcome it and be harder when needed.   I'll hold a good thought for you.

Oh I’ve considered therapy. Of course my healthcare plan won’t pay for that. So there aren’t too many other options left for me out there. I don’t do drugs. I can’t do alcohol because I’m a cancer survivor (and who knows when that will flare up again). So I get to go through my days with a stark consciousness that gives me a heightened perception of life’s little inequities, injustices, and the abject misery it brings to so many advancing in years.

Hey JerryDaBum,

What a great list you produced! This is what it is all about, and I never realized it until I read your posting.

I will be turning 51 on October 8, 2009, and I am still trying to come to turns with this age.

I just lost my job, and let me tell you being 50+ is definetly a train wreck waiting to happen. I apply between 10-12 jobs per week, and so far I have only gotten about 4 responses. If that is not depressing I don't know what else is. It's so Ironic, that when I was in my 40's I always said that I would never be looking for a job in my 50's, and I just felt sorry for those people. Well I guess it's true that what goes around comes around.

Well, thanks for the 50's list and hope I will have the chance to speak to you soon.  leeai

Aloha Vesuvius,

I just became a memeber of AARP and read your post on October 5, 2009. I am also suffering from a ruptured spine in 1998. I needed to have emergency surgery and have been in pain since then.

I also noticed that you said that medications also affected your lifestyle. Well I have been on pain medications since then, and now it has gotten to the point that I can no longer exist without them unless I commit myself to Rehab for a long time in order to get off these very strong drugs.

I need my meds to wake up and then take another type to go to sleep. I am 51 years of age, and I did a test on this website regarding your lifestyles, and it predicted that I will live to age 59 1/2!! That does not bother me, but I do not want to SUFFER. I am hoping for a peaceful death.

Well, I hope I did not bring you down with my story, but I would love to hear from you in the future...leeai

I finally have the time to do the things I have always wanted to try.....

I launched a website.....www.neighborsrentingstuff.com   for those of us

who have purchased numerous things over the years that other could use

and rent from us.     Wish me luck.

ÿ  Hello; my comment about being 50+ is that I have now come to the ripe age of 60 and loving it.  having come from many physical, emotional, challenges has brought me to the conclusion if i can come through that, i can press on to continue on this journey called "LIFE" .  the best is yet to come and i am willing, able and ready to look whatever in the face with a  brightness letting my light shine in the midst of whatever darkness tries to snuff out my getting from the place called '"HERE". Whatever my life continues to illuminate I will keep "Hope Alive" in the midst of this life.  I have truely learned to die. D - DOMINATE I - ILLUMINATE THE LIGHT THAT SHINES WITHIN ME AND E - ELEVATE ABOVE AND BEYOND MYSELF TO EXTEND A HAND TO SOMEONE ELSE.  û NFORSEEN Occurances Befall us all but it is not unto death.  Into this life some rain must fall but yet, I still rise above and beyond all I can ask to Be a living testimony that "I am an over comer". When I look at the number 5 I see part of a completion.  The completion is the closed circle at the bottom which is 6 which signifies I have completed a part of something greater, yet to come.  In my graying years there are scars showing where I have been.  Each stran of Gray is a place in my life I can speak about.  I have earned that strand and accept it with gratitude. I'm still here to live out a purpose beyound "HERE".

Why I love being 50+

• I don't care if I have those fine lines around my eyes - that simply means I have enjoyed my life and laughed often and squinted on occasion while being out in the sunshine.
• My husband loves my little pot-belly and thinks I am still a "hottie" - so long as I am his little hottie, it's all good.
• Have always been a smarta@@, and always will be be. Now, I don't give a rat's patoot.
• I have a little arthritis in my hip, so what. Instead of doing the electric slide, I will just do the electric shuffle... he he
• I can flirt all I want, cuz I want to, and feel the confidence to know that I can make someone smile and feel good about themselves.
• I love my life - I have learned alot in my journey. Would not want to be 21 again - then, I did not know who I really was. I needed to experience life and all its hills and valleys to appreciate what is now.
• With age comes wisdom - OK, fine, but I still want cute buns.
• LIFE IS LIFE -- IT'S ALL GOOD!!!!   

                                 Poem about Being over 60 (and retired)....

==================================

   Are you waiting around to die?

   So am I.

   But till then-

   I have the sun and birds and trees 

   every day.

   Tend my plants,ride my bike,

   have ice tea with ice, do a little meditation,

   cook something nice.

   When it's meant to be,

   off I go.

   Till then, tally ho!,

   the fun still lasts-

   day by day.