Over the hill

I'm not sure when one is officially considered to be "over the hill," but I feel like Paul and I have reached that point. He qualified for a senior discount for the first time during our vacation in May. We are now eligible to be in the "classics" group at our church (which for the first several years we attended our church was called "best years fellowship"). Last year we never attended any of their events, but we're actually registered for one on November 15. The kids will be at Camp Susque at a youth group retreat, so it seemed the perfect time to attend one of their events. I'm guessing we'll continue to skip most of their events until we are empty nesters. When you get to this age, you're supposed to start having colonoscopies and get immunized for pneumonia and shingles. Paul had a colonoscopy. I opted to go the simpler (and far less expensive) route with that. Paul got the pneumonia vaccine last year. That was expensive!

I had a physical on Monday morning. In addition to the usual questions, "do you smoke, do you drink, do you wear a seat belt, do you feel safe at home, etc." I was asked a question a medical professional had never asked me before - if I still felt like I was a capable driver (or something to that effect). I was floored. I answered I hope so because I recently taught my 17-year-old daughter how to drive and have two more teens to teach to drive in the next few years. I really, really didn't anticipate being asked that question at the age of 53. I declined the flu, pneumonia, and shingles vaccines. The only one I am contemplating is the shingles vaccine because my aunt has had awful experiences with having shingles many times. If both Paul and I get the shingles vaccine, that will cost us $1K so we are going to wait a bit as this hasn't been a good year for us financially. My doctor said waiting until I am 55 is fine. I'm very thankful that aside from mammograms and physicals, I haven't had any doctor appointments over the last almost four years. 

The number of instances in which I feel "over the hill" have been increasing at a more rapid pace lately. Listening to teenagers talk I feel like there are so many words and expressions that they use which I don't comprehend. What is the deal with "six seven," for example? I find myself missing the music that we used to sing years ago in church. I have loved contemporary Christian music for more than 40 years, but I've found myself not enjoying a greater percentage of the music played on a Christian radio station over the last few years. It makes me feel old.