AGE WISE
For the benefit of my fellow geezers out there who may not be aware of it, May is OLDER AMERICANS MONTH (not to be confused with NATIONAL SENIOR CENTER MONTH (September) or NATIONAL ACCORDION MONTH (June). Accordionly, May you and I bask in the recognition which is due us for living long enough to pass along our well-earned wisdom to those who don’t want to hear it.
To be sure, there is also a slight drawback about old age: there’s not much future in it….but otherwise, it’s not a bad time to be alive. At any rate, it beats the alternative — or so they say (as if “they” have experienced said alternative). On the flip side, there are many timely quotes on the age-old subject of age, so let’s put on our reading glasses and see if we can make heads or tails of some of them:
If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself. –Anonymous
An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have: the older she gets, the more interested he is in her. –Agatha Christie
Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. –Jim Fiebig
Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. –Susan Ertz
Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do. –Golda Meir
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. –Chili Davis
You’re only as old as the girl that you feel. –Groucho Marx
Time may be a great healer, but it’s a lousy beautician. –Anonymous
If you worry, you die. If you don’t worry, you also die. So why worry? –Mike Horn
I was going to use that last quote to close with the song DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY, but on the occasion of the birthday (May 10, 1899) of the never-grows-old Fred Astaire, this song and dance make me happy to change my tune:
Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC 12:38 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Hysterical first paragraph (even the pun), and I always love the quotes you feature. I heard the first quote, btw, with “my teeth” replacing “myself” – both are apt and only slightly funny once you get old enough to be considered a senior. 🙂
Love-love-LOVE the tap number – rarely seen in today’s dance shows (unless you want to count the choreography of STOMP or a few contestants on So You Think You Can Dance, where it is rarely featured predominantly). Thank you for making me grin by posting.
Crazy about Astaire, but must chime in again that it’s a shame that his partners never seem to have gotten the credit they deserve – rarely credited at all, actually, when Fred Astaire numbers are posted (even here). ::sigh::
ANYWAY, Happy Older Americans Month! Let’s get up out of our rockers and rock the month!
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 7:57 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
And a Happy to you as well, Madelyn! 🙂
I have to disagree (in part) about Fred’s partners not getting the credit they deserve. I think Ginger got a lot of credit — the whole world knows immediately that when you say Fred and Ginger, you’re referring to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In my opinion, it was some of his other partners who didn’t receive enough credit, even though they were considered better dancers than Ginger (Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse). Of course, Ginger made many more films with Fred than they, and built the sustained magic with Fred that wasn’t possible in one or two films with other partners. But there is magic nonetheless in such clips as his tap dance with Eleanor Powell!
P.S. I didn’t think it necessary to mention Eleanor’s name in introducing the clip because her name appears in the clip photo itself….and, after all, it’s HIS birthday, not her’s!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC 1:33 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink
Great points. btw – this would be a great post to share on today’s Senior Salon – the little couch at the bottom of May’s Mental Health Calendar has a direct link.
xx,
mgh
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 3:09 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink
Thanks for the share suggestion, Madelyn, but I don’t think you appreciate what a dufus I am with regard to the internet. I don’t see “the little couch at the bottom of May’s Mental Health Calendar,” and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t know what to do with it to share this post. I ain’t an old geezer for nothing! 🙂
LikeLike
scifihammy 2:24 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Thanks for the laugh! 😀 An hilarious post – plus the bonus of Fred Astaire! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Michaeline 5:29 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
mistermuse, I liked your posts, and especially your quotes while I enjoy the warm, sunny coast of Florida. I think of most poets that you are the most congenial, better than an epidural by far, and I wish on a star that you stay as young as you are.
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 9:25 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Not only am I better than an epidural, I’m better than an epidemic (though an epicurean might give me problems — it would be an epic contest). 😦
LikeLike
linnetmoss 6:38 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Haha! These were great. I have been watching my scoops of ice cream fall in slow motion for some time now, and I’ve decided that laughter is the only medicine. And a little Eleanor Powell (such a worthy partner for Fred) never hurts…
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 9:15 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Unfortunately, those scoops of ice cream never fall in slow enough motion to catch them before they hit the ground (or your shoes) — leaving you standing there holding an empty cone and looking like an idiot (make that ME looking like an idiot — I’m sure you would look like you were just giving your dog a treat….or your dogs a treat, if the scoop hit your feet). 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
linnetmoss 7:25 am on May 11, 2017 Permalink
Dear me, I do hope mine never actually hit the ground…
LikeLiked by 1 person
calmkate 7:00 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
How delightful lol … Fred and Ginger are my favourites, you got the wrong gal.
I intend growing old disgracefully … any one care to join me?
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 8:14 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Thanks to all for your comments. Calmkate, I’m not sure there’s any such thing as “the wrong gal” when it came to dancing with Fred — even a non-dancer like Joan Fontaine looked pretty good dancing with Fred in DAMSEL IN DISTRESS. But I agree that Ginger was special.
As for growing old disgracefully — you go, girl! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
calmkate 8:18 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink
“wrong girl” in that it wasn’t me … 😦
Joan was a hero of mine but last I saw she should have retired .. her partner had to carry her around the stage … it was so sad
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don Frankel 8:46 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
A wise man once said. “Don’t look back something may be gaining on you.” He also said. “Age is mind over matter. If you don’t mind it don’t matter.”
If you believe that baseball is life as I do then another wise man put it best. “70% of baseball is mental. The rest of it is in your mind.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 11:31 am on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Don, for the benefit of the baseball uninitiated, the wise men you quoted were Satchel Paige and Yogi Berra. But there can’t be just two wise men — there must be three. So here’s a quote from Tommy Lasorda: “I love doubleheaders. That way I get to keep my uniform on longer.”
Whatever happened to doubleheaders, anyway?
LikeLike
MC Clark 12:48 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
I’m still wondering how the heck I got here…I was 25 just the other day. 🙁
Thanks for the laughs!
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 5:16 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
You know what they say, Mary C. — time flies when you’re having fun. Apparently you’ve been having way too much fun! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
MC Clark 6:30 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink
Ha…I wish! 🙂
Cathy
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ricardo 2:57 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
We grow old too early and wise too late, Sr. Muse. On the other hand, you can dispense with any effort to acquire wisdom at all, and take comfort in the assertion that there’s no fool like an old fool, and congratulate yourself for being on top of the fool chain.
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 5:19 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
Well, at least I’m not on top of the drool chain yet, Ricardo. Hopefully it will never come down to that.
LikeLike
Don Frankel 6:34 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
One good turn deserves another and we can’t leave this guy out on this subject. “The Yankees fired me because I turned 70. I’ll never let that happen again.” Casey Stengel.
Then there was Warren Spahn who played for Casey before he managed the Yankees and later when Casey managed the Mets. “I worked for Casey before and after he was a genius.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Margarita 10:14 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
As I said to a friend recently, I love being an old person! 😉 xoM
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 11:37 pm on May 10, 2017 Permalink |
As Thoreau once said, “None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.” You obviously haven’t outlived yours, Margarita. 🙂
LikeLike
D. Wallace Peach 12:19 pm on May 11, 2017 Permalink |
I love the humor in your intro and these quotes are great. Susan Ertz was my favorite, but the anonymous one about the lousy beautician made me laugh. Great post. Happy Belated Birthday!
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 2:46 pm on May 11, 2017 Permalink |
Thank you, Diana….and I’m sure Fred Astaire, from that great ballroom in the sky, thanks you as well (for the Happy Birthday wishes). 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pat 3:04 pm on May 11, 2017 Permalink |
Synchronicity . . . love it. I just signed up for Silver Sneakers today and didn’t even know it was Older Americans Month. First time over here and enjoyed the quotes — not done yet in these golden years – just figuring that out. Forever young (Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire) — fun to watch them again. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 4:43 pm on May 11, 2017 Permalink |
You’re more than welcome, Pat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
M. Talmage Moorehead 4:35 pm on May 11, 2017 Permalink |
I can’t believe how much I enjoyed that dance. They must have practiced endlessly to remember all those details. Eleanor Powell blew me away. The guy was good, too. Hahaha
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 4:47 pm on May 11, 2017 Permalink |
I had the same reaction as I watched it when selecting it for this post — and I had already seen it probably 5 or 6 times over the years.
LikeLike
BroadBlogs 11:13 pm on May 14, 2017 Permalink |
Pithy: “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.” –Chili Davis
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bette A. Stevens 12:57 pm on May 25, 2017 Permalink |
Fun and funny! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
restlessjo 2:47 am on May 31, 2017 Permalink |
Magic! What a way to start my day 🙂 🙂 How does he manage such energy and elegance combined? Many thanks for sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 11:25 am on May 31, 2017 Permalink |
In a word, Astaire was a perfectionist. Such ease and elegance came from untold hours of practice and hard work (not to mention, natural talent)!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Zinni 1:40 pm on June 2, 2017 Permalink |
It’s never too late to cherish the disappointment of a scoop of ice cream falling from the cone
LikeLiked by 1 person
Zinni 1:40 pm on June 2, 2017 Permalink |
😍
LikeLiked by 1 person
kertsen 3:30 am on June 29, 2017 Permalink |
Keep up the good work. Old age is very relaxing I have great difficulty getting out of my chair.
LikeLiked by 1 person