For The Good Life…

We have been busy, all these years, upgrading ourselves, our vehicles, our clothes, and even our language. Hmmm. In that train of thought, it makes me want to go out and buy a hula hoop to twirl around in the living room and sing some of the old songs. Trouble is… I would end up playing All Fall Down. The old body is never up to what it used to be in the good old days. Also there is the problem of having given away all the 78’s and the old record player.

Next, we wonder if it’s better to keep all the accumulated CDs, tapes, and re-corders. Our new techies, who used to make touchdowns at the football games, have put their minds to the computers where everyone learned that anything you wanted to remember could be found on this new devise.

Oh, dear, what can the matter be? We’ve quickly learned that because of the “nature of the beasts” (us) we constantly look for changes. Those changes are sought in every area of our lives. Girls used to love dressing up… in dresses. Now many of them have never made an appearance in a dress. Some have begun paying dearly for blue jeans, the holier the better. There isn’t time in their universe to wear them long enough to create their own beat-up holiness.

Some things do return—like crazy expressions. After absorbing the phrase ‘okey dokey’ and noticing the number of people who have begun to re-use it, it becomes only one of many slang expressions that we are again using. Now they say, “chill” meaning “keep your cool.”

“Shoot the breeze” is when friends have an opportunity to “hang out” and talk things over. Then there’s the crazy expression “the bomb!” It happens to be a compliment.
I heard someone say “my bad” one day. After questioning a couple of people, I learned that saying that was a way of apologizing for something you had done or said.
We all know how to “pass the buck.”

We are into a very different time now with so many things going haywire. Florida is ever changing with huge apartment houses going on land that used to be covered in trees.
People are still young in their 90s and tired of living by themselves and caring for their large homes. Consequently, many are moving into organized apartment buildings where plenty of company is available.
Daytona Beach Shores was victim to a dreaded hurricane… an event we could do nothing about. As best we can, it’s time for us to relearn our Florida and find a way to keep as much of it as we can… for the good life.

Kitty Maiden is a staff writer for Seniors Today.