Seniority

Surely someone out there reading this will beat me by a mile but not many of you, I'm guessing.  So let me unabashedly hoot it up a bit for age and seniority (like Kath just did).  And reaching that milestone of milestones (yesterday):  age 65.

Did someone say
S E N I O R   D I S C O U N T S

Ask Astrid:  I HAVE NO SHAME.  Some of the discounts started at age 50...like when I became a card-carrying member of AARP.  That was 15 years ago when I found out I was NOT one of the Baby Boomers, being too old by one year.  Presdident Clinton was; I was not.  Cher, Diane Keaton, Dolly Parton, Alan Rickman, Donald Trump, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Sally Field, Susan Sarandon, Linda Ronstadt, Liza Minnelli, Suzanne Sommers, Sylvester Stallone, Tommy Lee Jones---all of them Baby Boomers.   All from 1946.

Okay, so maybe the list isn't more impressive when you go back a year to 1945 but who can argue about sharing seniority with the likes of Bette Midler, Diane Sawyer, Eric Clapton, Helen Mirren, Goldie Hawn, Mia Farrow, Priscilla Presley, Rod Stewart, Steve Martin, Carly Simon, Diane von Furstenberg, and a thousand others.

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Years ago when Mom and Dad were still alive but with an empty nest (after 8 kids!), I remember visiting them and hearing how their daily ritual was to drive over to McDonald's for their 10-cent coffee...because they were seniors.  You should have seen the excitement on Mom's face when she told me.  They were like teenagers on a date.

At 55, wife Astrid was able to put her name on the waiting list for the senior-living complex where we now live here in The Netherlands.  Some such places in the States have a minimum age requirement of 50.   In England, once you turn 60 you get a free bus pass.  At 62 I was able to start receiving my Social Security income.  This month, at 65, I'm now eligible for Medicare.

At 65, no one asks anymore what the senior-discount age is:  everyone is a senior by 65 and is usually eligible for at least some discount, whether it's for movies, prescriptions, concerts, exhibitions, travel, or you name it.  WHO DOESN'T LIKE MONEY!  I still bend down to pick up a penny on the sidewalk.  And why not!  I figure I deserve every cent I can find and save.  More left over for the next grand adventure, right?  One penny at a time.

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S E N I O R   D I S C O U N T S

Ask Astrid again:  Do I have any shame?  Are you kidding me!  I will ask for every discount I can get my hands on till they're sick and tired of me.  And I will smile all the way to the bank.

By the way, there's a reason why they give us these discounts, of course.  Do you ever feel like the Little Engine that Could?  This old grey mare ain't what she used to be and sometimes repeats the daily mantra,   "I think I can, I think I can."  Does anyone know what you get for turning 70?  The above steam train was born in 1940 and gave us a dandy little ride when we visited the Steam Festival in nearby Dordtrecht a couple weekends ago.  If I look that good 5 years from now, I'll deserve more than a senior discount!

[Yesterday my Dutch wife, Astrid, was our guest blogger here at V&V.  Thank you for all the birthday wishes there!  :)]