By Heather O.
Actually, I’m not drunk, but that’s what Tracy M calls it when it’s 2am and you can’t sleep and you decide to blog. And right now, I’m not sleeping. And it’s 2:10am. A traveling husband and a Diet Coke after 9pm is a bad combination. Add some YouTube surfing to the mix, and I may never sleep again.
I went swimming at the Y today, and the lifeguard told me that I favor Megan McCormick. Does anybody know who she is? I googled, her, and we have the same bad haircut, and the same mousy hair. She has better scuba gear, though.

Although I have to admit, I have NO scuba gear, so anything is better than what I’ve got. Still, I’m no expert or anything, but her stuff looks pretty happenin’.
But beyond the hair color and length, I’m not sure it looks anything like me. Her nose is much cuter, and her smile is much whiter. I could fix the smile thing with Crest strips, I suppose, but the nose, well, there are some things we just have to live with.
This lifeguard isn’t creepy or anything, but when a person with whom you are on a friendly nod basis tells you you look like somebody, it makes a gal wonder why he said that, and what he was thinking about as he was guarding you and the old woman doing aquatic jazzercise.
I’m not making fun of aquatic jazzercise (or lifeguards) (or old women). Not at all. I think it’s actually fantastic, really, to see old gals in swim suits, doing their thing. It’s like you hit a certain age when everything is SUPPOSED to sag, and these women, they just embrace it. After the turbo-boobed perfection of the exercise classes, it’s refreshing to go the pool and see some real bodies.
I hope I’m like that when I’m 80.
I wonder if Megan McCormick will be like that too.
Maybe I should look her up, and say, ‘Hey, we look alike! Let’s be friends!’ and we can go diving for conch shells and stuff together. And then, when we’re old, we can sit on our rocking chairs and think about how awesome we are, and then go don our swimming suits and hit the gym to show the younger women how it’s done.
I can’t wait to be old. I bet you can get away with all kinds of stuff. And nobody can yell at you, or threaten you, or put you in a time out, ’cause you’re old. I mean, seriously, who yells at old ladies? Scouts help you cross the street, and people forgive you when you forget their names. You even get discounts on food and movies and stuff.
The possibilities are endless.
This may be the most random post I’ve ever written.
I’m hanging up the phone now. Or in this case, closing my laptop. Thanks for reading me through my insomnia. I’ll be back with some coherent thoughts in the morning.
Maybe.




I can verify that the older generation can get away with just about anything. Winters with Snowbirds in Mesa have taught me that.
I hope LOST is good tonight.
Comment #1 by ZinkaMarch 9th, 2010 at 8:07 amI’m only 60, but it’s a relief not to worry about how I look in a bathing suit (I was always either too skinny or too fat). Now I just throw it on and go. Being a Nana really frees you. It’s all about the sun, the sea and my grandson. But I do make a very concious effort not to bend over.
Comment #2 by MOGMarch 9th, 2010 at 8:52 amNot wearing a bra. I think that most of the 70+ crowd (like 6 women) in my ward don’t wear bras. Or they found a store where the bras place your boobs closer to your armpits than your sternum.
Comment #3 by ErinAnnMarch 9th, 2010 at 8:57 amDrunk dialing the blog. That’s funny.
My grandmother used to do water aerobics. She absolutely loved it since other types of exercise were difficult with her joint problems. I suppose we all want to live to a ripe old age, but I try not to think much about everything associated with being a ripe old age. Memory loss. Alzheimers. Gray hair. Having to live with someone who’s retired. Or being retired myself. Yikes!
Comment #4 by ResearcherMarch 9th, 2010 at 9:21 amMOG: ROTFLOL about not bending over!!
Heather: I think the lifeguard was picking up on you; as in: He thinks that Megan McCormick is pretty, and thus, he was also complimenting you.
ErinAnn: Better closer to your armpits than closer to your waist!
Old people generally think that they should be able to get away with anything. That they’ve earned the right to cut into line in front of you.
Comment #5 by StrollerbladerMarch 9th, 2010 at 9:24 amMegan McCormick is one of the better hosts of “Globe Trekker,” a british travel show that airs on PBS. She seems funny and adventurous and very down to earth on the show, so I would definitely take it as a compliment.
Comment #6 by daisyMarch 9th, 2010 at 9:30 amI also think she would totally embrace the sag.
Old people aren’t treated curtiously everywhere. Today at the gym a grey-haired man (dressed in a collared shirt and courdoroys, cute thing) tried to find a treadmill with a working TV. He couldn’t find one so he stood indecisively by one with an inoperable TV. As he stood there waffling, a young athletic thing strode confidently around him and bound onto the treadmill. I would have given that young thing a piece of my mind - if she hadn’t been older than me.
Thankfully someone else offered the man their treadmill.
When I’m older I won’t take crap from youngin’s.
Comment #7 by jendoopMarch 9th, 2010 at 1:52 pmI’m just not ready to embrace the sag. Someday. But not yet.
Comment #8 by Tracy MMarch 9th, 2010 at 10:05 pmI turn 39 today! Dear Husband says I’m catching up fast, but since he’s 12+ years older I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon. I’ve been compared to Cate Blanchette. I think it’s the fair hair and skin; it’s definitely not my nose sitting on her face.
I like most old people. I really don’t like when people try to take advantage, or don’t offer to help, or don’t smile. I don’t think age gives someone a free pass on being mean. A few older people I’ve met think they’ve earned the right to say whatever they feel like, regardless of hurting others. I think no matter your age, you should be as kind as possible.
I’ve developed a new philosophy over the last few years. If you are willing to make a fool of yourself in the eyes of others and life can be so much more fun and adventurous.
Comment #9 by JCMarch 10th, 2010 at 9:02 amThere are a lot of stereotypes about the elderly being presented here. I currently work in a nursing home and previously worked in home health care. The most important lessons I’ve learned are these:
* People are people and deserve to be treated as such, regardless of their age. The elderly also have feelings - they don’t lose their emotions just because their memory and physical abilities start to go. There are courteous and rude, optimistic and pessimistic, [insert multiple quirks and personality traits here] 20-somethings, 30-somethings… up to 90-somethings. Often, the character trait that slips a little with age is tact. That’s not necessarily purposely rude, just tactless.
* Mostly the elderly get lonely. They often feel that life has passed them by and they are forgotten. They have lost parents, spouses, siblings, children, friends - and frequently their own independence, as well as their homes and many of their possessions. I wonder how I would feel and react in those situations. It would be easy to feel displaced and out-of-sorts.
* The elderly have some amazing life lessons they can share with us if we are willing to listen and learn.
* And what is hopefully making the biggest difference in my life is this: I am trying NOW to improve the character traits that are weaknesses or that bother me - so that when MY senility starts to slip, habit and attitude can hopefully overcome the worst of my flaws and I can still be respectful and kind, regardless of the circumstances and my age.
One of these days it could very well be ME sitting in that wheelchair needing assistance to do even basic necessities. How do I want to be treated? The gentleness and respect and kindness that I hope to receive then is the same way I treat those I care for and serve now.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
**stepping off my soapbox now**
Comment #10 by Michelle AMMarch 10th, 2010 at 12:16 pmOkay, I just re-read the post and comments. I guess I’m a little overly-sensitive…
Comment #11 by Michelle AMMarch 10th, 2010 at 12:22 pmHowever, my point still stands that someday (hopefully most of us will live that long) WE are going to be the elderly about whom others are talking…
Comment #12 by Michelle AMMarch 10th, 2010 at 12:27 pm“When I am old, I will wear purple”
Yes, that’s correct, I will wear a purple zip-up velor jogging suit and my husband will wear boots that zip up on the side. We have also toyed with the idea of getting motorcycles…golden-wings to be exact….
retirement will be awesome!
Comment #13 by Katie EMarch 10th, 2010 at 6:36 pmMichelle, I think we’re all kinda cheering for the elderly (except for mean elderly, and I don’t think a person is mean because he’s old, I think he’s mean because he’s just mean!) I hope I made it clear that in fact, I want to be the elderly lady doing the aquatic jazzercise in the pool, finally having gotten to the point where I don’t care what I look like in a swimsuit. These women that I see at the Y epitomize courage, strength, and beauty, and I want to be like them.
I’ve spent my career as an SLP working exclusively with the elderly. I agree with everything you say, and working with somebody days, hours even, before he dies (I’ve been there) is a powerful and moving experience. And I would see patients be degraded and condescended to every day, not only by the staff in the nursing home, but by the fact that sometimes, they need their SLP to help them to the toilet because they have explosive diarrhea, and there is nobody else around, and sometimes that SLP has the job of helping them get cleaned up, because again, there is nobody else around. Who wants their therapist cleaning up poop? And yet, I’ve done it, because it had to be done, and it’s just the reality of working with older people who are incapicitated. And I could go home at 5 o’clock–and they still had to leave with that reality, even though they spent most of their lives going to the bathroom by themselves just fine. I learned early on to treat my patients as I would like my parents or my grandparents to be treated, and I’m fully (OH so fully) aware that it may be me someday, asking my therapist to clean my backside.
So don’t fret. Nothing but respect for the elderly coming from me. And if it didn’t sound that way in the original post, I plead only that it was written at 2am, and I may not have quite had my full wits about me
Comment #14 by Heather O.March 10th, 2010 at 7:39 pmHeather, I realized after posting that I really did react with extreme sensitivity (hence my follow-up comments). I understand what you meant in your post, and hope that I, too, will one day be that elderly lady in the pool who doesn’t care what she looks like in a swimsuit. (I can hope, at least!) I admire what you have done/do as an SLP, and know you and other SLPs are indispensible.
It wasn’t any particular thought or comment, just the *ideas* that were becoming pervasive in the discussion - the broad generalizations that the elderly get away with things - that rubbed me the wrong way. I think there are plenty of 20- and 30-somethings that act like they believe they are entitled to do whatever. It is not dependent on age. There are many such situations - like you said, a mean person is often mean simply because he is mean, not because he gets old. A critical person at 30 will most likely be a critical 80-year-old, unless s/he changes some habits and attitudes over the years.
For the record, I have told my kids that I give them permission to take away my car keys and license the minute I become an aggravating slow-poke, elderly driver! (One of my pet peeves - see, I can be annoyed by the older generation, too.) And my kids think there are some really disgusting aspects to my job. (If they only knew how bad it can get… explosive diarrhea included.)
It might be interesting to see what else you come up with at 2am, Heather. “Drunk dialing the blog” is a funny image! Though overall I think you kept your balance pretty well this time.
Comment #15 by Michelle AMMarch 10th, 2010 at 9:13 pmMichelle, as someone who is in the process of placing her mother in a care facility, I think it is WONDERFUL that there are people with your attitude regarding helping those who can’t help themselves. I hope there is someone like both you and Heather there for my mother when I can’t be there anymore. Thanks to both of you!
Comment #16 by mitsyMarch 15th, 2010 at 4:22 pmMitsy, good luck as you find the right place for your mother. Placing a loved one in a long-term care facility is a difficult thing for most people - both for the elderly and the family. I fervently hope that your mother will be well-nurtured and loved by those who will care for her.
If you were in our area, I’d tell you to have her come live in the facility where I work so I could serve her. However, as we are pretty much in the boondocks now, it isn’t likely that your mom is in the vicinity!
Comment #17 by Michelle AMMarch 16th, 2010 at 5:33 pm