Golden Years

Then it happens and unless you embrace all the changes, you’re going to say yuck.

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere

Angel

Come get up, my baby

Look at that sky, life's begun

Nights are warm and the days are young

Come get up, my baby

There's my baby, lost that's all

Once I'm begging you save her little soul

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Come get up, my baby

Last night they loved you

Opening doors and pulling some strings

Angel

Come get up, my baby

In walked luck and you looked in time

Never look back, walk tall, act fine

Come get up, my baby

I'll stick with you, baby, for a thousand years

Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years

Gold

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Come get up, my baby

Some of these days, and it won't be long

Gonna drive back down where you once belonged

In the back of a dream car twenty foot long

Don't cry, my sweet, don't break my heart

Doing all right, but you gotta get smart

Wish upon, wish upon, day upon day, I believe, oh Lord

I believe all the way

Come get up, my baby

Run for the shadows, run for the shadows

Run for the shadows in these golden years

There's my baby, lost that's all

Once I'm begging you save her little soul

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Come get up, my baby

Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere

Angel

Come get up, my baby

Run for the shadows, run for the shadows

Run for the shadows in these golden years

I'll stick with you, baby, for a thousand years

Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years

Gold

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Golden years, gold whop whop whop

Writer/s: David Bowie

Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Sentric Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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Don’t know that song?

Here: Golden Years - David Bowie

Now that you’re humming that song in your head…

Nope. Not those golden years.

I’m talking about the golden years we were sold.

The one where you travel to Italy and have incredible picnics on the Amalfi coast or sip champagne in the Champagne region of France northeast of Paris or bask in the tropical sun on a boat tour of Halong Bay, Vietnam.

Again.

Nope.

Overheard in the local diner: “golden years, hogwash, the golden years are when you give your gold to the doctors.”

When you’re under age 50, you think you’re never going to get old.

Then it happens and unless you embrace all the changes, you’re going to say yuck.

And they’re not your golden years, they are the years you give all your gold to doctors.

A Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling

One little game some of us oldsters like to play is “I wish I knew then what I know now”, especially when one sees a youngster making an error they made in their youth.

My best friend, age wise, we’re 12 days apart, who goes to Southern California to visit her children for winter texted that she fell in the bathtub and had a bad leg injury. She intended to hide it from them. She didn’t want them to know she was old and had fallen.

I have fallen several times, each time worse than the last. Once I fell in the gravel in the driveway and had the nastiest bruise I’d ever seen spreading from my knee to my ankle. It took weeks and lots of ice to heal.

On a camping trip, hubby fell and broke his nose. So much blood and ice. We probably should have gone to the hospital but he was embarrassed that he fell.

I told my best friend that we were old and to accept the help.

Boomers aren’t going out quietly.

David Bowie was right. Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years.

But there’s good stuff too.

✔️ We can dress as eccentrically as we like, we’re no longer slaves to the latest fashion craze, many of which are crazy. I’m happy if the tee shirt I decide to wear isn’t wrinkled and doesn’t smell - and no one cares!

Adulting Part Three: Tights Are Not Pants

✔️ We don’t have to conform to society’s norms any more. Many of them are dumb.

✔️ We have made lots of money and can donate our time as a volunteer.

Or.

We can travel.

Extensively.

Cool Kids on the Road

Newest Cool Kid

✔️ At retirement age we get senior discounts. Fifty percent discount at State Park campgrounds in Ohio, twenty to thirty percent in other States. Food discounts and senior days at the grocery store. Restaurants will let you split a dinner for a price.

✔️ You don’t eat as much as you used to. Alcohol seems to affect you faster and if you’re not careful you can fall.

My father died because he fell and broke his hip. My mother fell and hit her head. Niether were drinkers though.

It’s probably in the cards that I’ll die from falling.

Bottom line: your food and adult beverage costs are decreased.

✔️ Social Security has been a nice surprise. It gets direct deposited into my bank account. They scare you into thinking if you wait to “full retirement age” to withdraw you’ll get a bigger amount each month.

What if Social Security goes away?

It is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” according to Elon Musk.

He’s right.

What’s a Ponzi scheme?

AI generated:

A Ponzi scheme is a type of investment fraud where returns to earlier investors are paid using the capital from new investors, rather than from profit earned by the operation of a legitimate business. This scheme relies on a continuous influx of new investors to keep going, and it ultimately collapses when it becomes difficult to recruit new participants.

Younger workers pay for older workers.

We paid for our parents (who didn’t pay as much into the system as we did) and our kids are paying for us.

It’s becoming difficult to recruit new participants though.

“There are fewer babies being born,” the billionaire said on the mega-popular podcast, “and you have more people who are retired that live for a long time and get [Social Security] payments.” USA Today.

It almost works out even whether I “wait to full retirement age” or start taking at 62.

The math is solid.

My mother lived to be 91.

I’ll take my chances.

It’s nice to not have to spend my nestegg.

✔️ We don’t care so much about what other people think of us. It’s true.

The Accidental Hipsters

✔️ The ability to problem-solve is streamlined after years of practice.

Adulting Part Five: Common Sense Isn’t Common

✔️ We have more knowledge about people and life.

✔️ We know ourselves better and feel more comfortable in our own skin.

✔️ We can recognize BS from far away.

Aging is not about decline.

It is about mastery.

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