Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

"It's not the days in your life, but the life in your days that counts." ~ Brian White

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize.
The first is gentleness;
the second is frugality;
the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others.
Be gentle and you can be bold;
be frugal and you can be generous;
avoid putting yourself before others
and you can become a leader among men.
- Lao Tzu

Hi all,

A special hello to Snazzy - I hope you will find good friends here, who will not only be with you during your BC journey but to rejoice with you in the good times, and grieve with you in the bad, but will be there in the everyday ups and downs of everyday life. That is what I have found here and I cherish.

I, for example have 5 grown children, a few of whom, think I share too much. I have found this thread to be my safe place and while they know I am on this site often, they have no way to monitor what I say, which is very freeing to me. Whatever your issue might be, we are here to listen, to support you, and to share our stories of our experience, if we think it would be appropriate.

My life is very chaotic right now. I live in the southern end of Ft Lauderdale, and evacuated for Hurricane Irma. My neighbor did not evacuate, and luckily realized one of my sliding doors to the patio had come off its track and the hurricane was in my house. My guess is she realized it pretty quickly because the damage was minimal or so I thought. All of the house except the master bedroom, kitchen and 2 bathrooms were laminate flooring. There was minimal, but obvious damage to a maybe 2-3 ft area. But because it ran through most of the house, it all had to be replaced. But because the living, room, dining room and office were a different laminate (which always bothered me) I have had to replace those rooms out of pocket. That has happened with several things. They keep telling me they only repair they do not update. I understand that, but for example, we have two solar panels for water heating on our roof. They are at least 24 years old. The whole roof needs replacing, so the panels have to come down and be put baCk up.The company that originally put them up say they will not survive the process. They are too brittle having been exposed to the hot FL sun for the past 25 years. The insurance company says that is an upgrade so it looks like that is another $3300 out of my pocket.

They gave me $1400 to replace the door that came off the track. I would like to replace that one and the dining room door with hurricane strength french doors. Each french door costs $4000. That's a major hit to my pocket- and I just redid my whole kitchen and garage. I am totally overwhelmed by all these decisions, which my husband always made until his passing 5 yrs go.

So, Spazzy, we share our daily lives. Some of us like golfing, or gardening, or pets, or reading or traveling. Some share a lot about everything, others are more private. We all talk about our families, whether it is spouses, parents, children or grandchildren ( my favorite). And, of course our BC journeys. So I hope you will join us in our little group, and let us get to know you. When I was going thru treatment, I was on several threads and reading and posting was such a positive part of my day. Now, I am mainly on this thread, as I am once again living real life.

Several of us have had the joy of meeting face to face. Bonnets is a regular on here and I knew she lived in NY, but really hadn't paid attention to where. Long story short, I was in NY. for several weeks last fall. Bonnets lives in my late brother's town, (one of the reasons for the trip was for his funeral). We realized she lived really close, so one day we met for lunch, another day I went to her house for lunch. As we talked, we realized her brother-in- law knew my brother well enough to be one of his pall bearers. Then we realized her daughter's went to the HS where both my sister-in-law and cousin worked. We realized that her stepson was friends in HS with my cousin's daughter, whose mother-in-law was the sister of Bonnet's sister-in-law!! Amazing!

Hoping to hear from you more,

Anne

Hi there, Snazzyiron and welcome!

Poppy, your description of yesterday fits us here today. It feels somewhat chilly out of doors and is actually pleasant to step into the house. Because Dh feels temperature so much on his neck --- even during the most outdoor heat the a/c is on 78 -- so since the a/c is not 'cooling' inside --- the warmth remains. It is a nice Fall day outside. Dh said the forecast was rain --- but not according to the one I get from the St. Louis, Mo area. We are 70 to 75 miles due East of St. Louis, Mo here in Illinois and way back when --- could only get STLMO stations. Most people still look there for a weather report. It can be off -- but it is not them in my estimation. Just the terrain right where we live. It is normal to be by-passed in general by the worst weather ( 99 % of the time anyway ). So --- not totally sure about rain, but I do think it will stay on the cooler side today. Not bad for me.

We have a lot of leaves down so maybe I can talk Dh into trying out his new gizmo that fits on the back of the lawn tractor and pulls all the leaves into it. I hope the thing will work. To date -- we have tried a number of things. At our age, it is getting VERY hard to clean two acres full of trees and therefore leaves. Left on the ground all winter and the ground becomes spongy --- and we are hilly here so that is very in-desirable. So I do hope this works out. Otherwise I see hours of leaf-blowing in my very immediate future. I tried to stay away from some of it this past season and concentrate on other needful things -- like my work inside and my job. That was not a success. I was out and doing some anyway, but not quite enough. I am working on hopefully getting Dh some help in organizing our garage which I think will ultimately help. We need to reinstitute the order we once had that has slipped away --- I hope that will make everything better -- for both of us.

Hope everyone is going to have a really good day. I'm amazed to hear the Chevy is dealing with snow. I'm counting myself very fortunate.

VelvetPoppy, send me some of that cool air! I was out grocery shopping today and it is still hot and humid here in south Louisiana. I have been suffering since we got home from MN. I think your cooler temperatures will arrive here by tomorrow.

Welcome, Snazzy. I hope you enjoy being a part of our oldies group. I wasn't nearly as old an oldie when I joined in 2009! The 60's are seeming younger every year now that I'm in the 70's.

I had plans for getting lots of work done today but about all I have accomplished is grocery shopping and portioning meat for the freezer. I had intended to make burger buns but it's probably a little late to start now. And too early to start dinner.

Happy Wednesday to everyone.

Velvet, My brother and SIL lived in Okla and wintered in the Rio Grande Valley. They would go down when it started to get really cold and wait for spring to come back. People up here winter in Arizona and spend summers in the northwest.

Hi everyone. Today I turned 66, grateful for another year.We had a beautiful sunny day here, though I guess a cold front is moving through tomorrow. I had my free Grand Slam at noon at Denny's with a friend, and a free birthday day at a Mexican restaurant with 2 other friends. Will need to hit the gym after all that food! I'm in the middle.

Happy, Happy Birthday Puffin. It sounds like you had a marvelous time and with people you enjoy.

I know you won't eat too much. I hope you have lots and lots more and each full of great spirit and joy.

Happy Birthday, Puffin!

Humankind must be a steward of the Earth; Caretakers for
all that dwells upon it; To be of one heart with all things.

Human beings must learn to share the tears of every living
thing, To feel in our hearts the pain of the wounded animal,
each crushed blade of grass;

Mother Earth is our flesh; the rocks, our bones;
The rivers are the blood of our veins.

We are all children of God. Traditions are open to anyone
who wants to learn.

Huichol Holy Man

Thought you ladies might like this.....Its about us....

Too funny....I'm not near ready for either holiday. I really don't like the decorating ( some here have had the Halloween decorations up before we even got to October ) long beforehand. I do realize that in some cold weather areas, a GOOD day may mean putting up decorations early --- but you don't have to turn them on. Boo on the ones who do. For me --- life goes faster often than I like --- so seeming to speed it up by early decorations really does tend to aggravate me.

Our block began decorating for Halloween practically the day after Yom Kippur. On principle I'm not even gonna buy candy till the 30th (we'll be in Vegas till the night before anyway). I have to confess I used to detest Halloween because our previous kitties were escape-artists, so I had to either stand out on the porch and freeze or put the cats in the bathrooms so I could keep the front door open. We usually go through at least 20 lbs. of candy because we live on a double block, and kids from poorer neighborhoods come over to our block (some driven by their parents--and some of the parents asking for candy for themselves).

Rotten weather today. Rainstorms overnight. Rainy all day today, with stronger storms coming through. We're under flash flood & tornado watches. The Riverwalk (a huge tourist attraction) already flooded by this morning, and even Chinatown got flooded (half of Ping Tom Park, including much of the stairway to the pagoda, is under water). We don't get floods here by the lake, since there's plenty of beach between the lake & the highrises (and the highrises and Sheridan Rd. are a buffer themselves). Any basement flooding tends to be sewer backup; and not only did we install a sump pump but the Deep Tunnel project is taking away a lot of the water that would have backed up the sewers on the North Side & North Shore. (NW, W, and SW suburbs--especially along the DesPlaines and Fox Rivers, not so lucky). We didn't get up to 65 today--won't get much cooler overnight; but we probably won't make it to 60 tomorrow. Going to harvest my remaining tomatoes tomorrow evening, because they're predicting it'll get down to 43 tomorrow night. (Or I might just throw an old blanket over them, since it'll warm up again by Monday). All in all, we've had a bumper crop, and all of the ones that fell off while still green eventually ripened.

I found out today that one of the numbers in the Bar Show this year has me doing a couple of measures of solo rapping, and wouldn't you know that out of the four women with rap solos, mine would have the trickiest rhythm! Never dreamed that I would be rapping on stage at 66. At least we don't have to do those hand gestures.

One of my patients who survived three major surgeries in five weeks
described himself as "born again." When I asked him about this, he
told me that his experience had challenged all of his ideas about life.
Everything he had thought true had turned out to be merely belief and
had not withstood the terrible events of recent weeks. He was stripped
of all he knew and left only with the unshakable conviction that life
itself was holy. This insight in its singularity and simplicity had
sustained him better than the multiple, complex system of beliefs and
values that had been the foundation of his life up until this time. It
upheld him like stone and upholds him still because it has been tested
by fire. At the depths of the most unimaginable vulnerability he has
discovered that we live not by choice but by grace.
And that life itself is a blessing.

Rachel Naomi Remen
My Grandfather's Blessings