Thursday, December 7, 2017

Follow up to my challenge

I was thinking about the fact that I have some very close friends, who I have known for a while. Social Connectedness is a big concern for seniors and many people as they age begin to feel isolated, as family and friends leave or die.
It is easy to say just make some new friends, but that is not easy for many. My friends are people who I have known for over 20 years. My latest friend I have known for 3 years. Looking at my list of friends I realized that I was becoming lazy and was missing out by not actively seeking new friends Yesterday I issued a challenge t see everyone, as a brand new challenge to find a new friend or to fall in love.
However, issuing a challenge without some background would not be fair, so lets talk about friends and friendship.
Friendship is an interesting aspect of our life when we were young making friends was not hard, but how do we as seniors go about making new friends, in fact, what makes a friend? 
  • What do you value most in your friends?
  • Do you look for people who enjoy the same activities as you?
  • Do you like spending time with people who share similar beliefs to you?
  • Do you prefer acquaintances that challenge your beliefs and make you think
  • Perhaps you enjoy the company of people who share similar political or religious beliefs.
    No matter what your preferences, it pays to be conscious of your choice of friends.
    If you are thinking that it might be worthwhile to seek out new friends and adventures, first get over the idea that everybody else your age already has all the friends they need. Nobody wears a sign that says 'I'm looking for a friend,' but there are a lot of people out there in the same boat.
    Pursue your own hobbies and interests so you are an interesting person and can meet people who are like-minded. If the church or the regular commitment of volunteer work doesn't appeal to you, cross those options off your list and find other ways to put yourself in contact with new people.
    When you know what kinds of friends you are looking for, you can choose to engage in activities that will give you an opportunity to meet new people of your choosing. For example, are there political, religious, sports, social or other groups that you could re-engage with? 
    Taking the time to think about what friendship means to you will make it more likely that you will see opportunities to start conversations in more natural settings – at the supermarket, in the post office, or in the park.
    So, give some thought to what you’re looking for in a friend. Write your thoughts in a diary, if you have time. Friendship takes time, effort and advance planning. Think about the type of person that you’d like to meet and you just might increase your chances of meeting them!
    There is an organization called MeetUp.com where people who are looking for companionship can either start groups in their local communities or join existing ones. They are organized by interest and by zip code. Some are specifically focused on seniors if you feel more comfortable with your age peers. There may other online communities where you can meet people with shared interests.

    Wednesday, December 6, 2017

    A challenge

    See everyone, as a brand new challenge to find a new friend or to fall in love.

    Sneaky, huh?

    Kisses,

    Tuesday, December 5, 2017

    Counting Up Not Down

    I have to give credit for the idea of the retirement counter to Crabapple Landing which is the name of a blog that I read. In the blog, the blogger talks about the idea of counting down and says she had set up a timer to count down the time to her retirement. I suspect many have done that and as we moved closer to the end time probably slows down.

    After she retired, she came up with the idea to keep track of how long her retirement lasts and I thought what a great and positive idea. Boomers are reinventing retirement, stages 1 through 3, so I decided to add my own counter. 

    So, on the first counter, I have the number of days since I officially retired, and the second counter lists the days since I actually retired.  For those who read my blog, you know that I went back to work almost the next day and stayed working part time and full time for just over 7 years before I actually stopped working for pay. I, of course, still work at what I enjoy but I no longer being paid for my time. 

    My career in Education lasted 40 years and I hope to spend at least that many years being retired, but I know I won't. My retirement age was 63 so if I make it to the age of 85 I will have been retired for 22 years, not the 40 that I worked. To be retired for 40 years I would have to live until I was 103 and that is not going to happen.

    I don't know if I have good genes as my Dad died when he was in his early 50's and my mom died in her early 60's. However, I have cousins and aunts who lived until they were in their late 80's, so I  am hopeful that I will make it for at least a few more years.


    I do love the idea of counting up, to keep track of when you started this wonderful adventure called retirement. If you want to start your own count-up or count-down, here is the site I am using Ticket Counter. It is at  https://www.tickcounter.com/ 

    Monday, December 4, 2017

    Serendipity

    I was downtown, charged with getting Sushi for my wife’s contribution to the pot-luck the theater was having for the last night of the play Calendar Girls. My wife had been in charge of getting and creating props for the show and during the show as the Assistant Stage Manager. As I left the restaurant, I heard some singing and music coming from Leigh Square, which is just down the block. As I believe in Serendipity I wandered over to the square.

    A band with three wonderful singers was playing some old-fashioned Christmas songs and there were a number of booths. One of the booths was from the City and as I talked to the young person in the booth, another lady there asked if I wanted a hot chocolate. So, I said yes, and asked what was going on at the square. She explained it was the second and last day of an event called Christmas in Leigh Square. 

    Inside the building, there were many artesian booths with great ideas for Christmas gifts. Booths were set up to sell, scarves, perfumes, local wine, craft beer, stocking stuffers, Christmas sweaters and other home-made crafts. Everyone was having a good time and there were a lot of people passing through the stalls.
    At one of the stalls, I noticed some posters that were definitely from the 1960’s. I stopped to look and the person manning the booth began to talk to me. He told me that he had been a music promoter in the 1960’s in Vancouver and had been asked to write a book about his experiences. He asked me if I had been around Vancouver in the 60’s and I said yes, I had been at SFU during this time and when I was on Student’s Council I was involved in booking Acts for the theater.  

    We talked for a while about how he had booked “Country Joe and the Fish” at SFU. He asked if I had been to any of the Be in’s in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, specifically the one with the Country Joe. I had been and we talked about that and other things.

     I thought to myself, it is a small world as he and I had known many of the same people back then, but I did not remember running into him nor did he remember running into me.

    Another man joined us and he was a sound engineer and had worked in many of the top recording studios in Vancouver. So, we talked about old times in Vancouver in the 60’s for about 15 minutes and I realized that I needed to get the Sushi back so my wife could get to the theater on time. 

     The man I met was Jerry Kurz and his book is called The Afterthought: West Coast Rock Posters and Recollections from the '60s I highly recommend the book especially if you survived the 60’s in Canada or the West Coast of the United States or you want to know what it was like in the 60's on the West Coast of Canada.