Earlier this year, Sara Stubbins described a birthday tradition of embracing her new age each year by treating herself in some memorable way. One year it was skydiving and this year, a festive weekend at a beautifully appointed boutique hotel.
Sara’s comment on her birthday—“It’s good to turn 75!”—made me wonder what some of the rest of you would say about this abundant accumulation of birthdays. So I consulted the class Facebook group.
John Cooch had a good question: “How old would you think you are if you didn’t know when you were born?” Susan Magid Bergin volunteered, “I am 8”. (My husband is 6!)”. There are days when some of us can relate to that—maybe the spouse part, anyway. Barbara DeHart Eadie said, “75 on the outside, 16 on the inside!” and Bob Hinderer agreed with her. “I still think I look like I did when at AAHS. Until I walk in front of a mirror.”
One of the themes we heard, of course, was about having to slow down because our bodies just aren’t as forgiving as when we were 18. Or 35. Or even 65? Sylvia Shippey recently did a cross-country move, from Arizona to Michigan, and said it took more out of her than earlier ones. “But I feel blessed to have most of my mental faculties. I said most.”
Stoy Dulgeroff has been living with the severe cost of Agent Orange exposure for decades, since his military service in Vietnam, but arthritis is a bigger deal at this stage in life. “I drive a new Corvette convertible and struggle to get in and out of it. But, trust me, it’s worth every grunt and groan.”
Speaking of automobiles, Lynn Umpleby Fuentes offered a great analogy: “It’s like having an old car—my 75-year-old body has to go into the shop more often for repairs, but it’s still taking to the highway.”
Mike Bradley is hitting the road, too—literally. This summer and fall, he and his wife toured the U.K. for two and a half months. While admitting that they were a little tired and sore sometimes, they lugged suitcases, drove three different rental cars on the left side of the road, caught trains and the London Tube, and walked 12K to 15K steps a day.
Then there’s Steve Crosswait... ”I still swim a mile most days, ride my bike for 7 miles three to four days a week, lift weights, kayak and camp with my wife [our classmate, Donna Korzuck Crosswait].” And if that’s not enough, he still has enough lung power to play bagpipes!
Nancy Evaldson Mirshah remarked on missing “the freedom and unawareness of future limitations that I had when I was younger”. I think of that myself at times when something I would have done without hesitation at an earlier age would clearly be more complicated, harder or just plain impossible at 75. Cross the country twice in five months in a Penske truck with all your worldly belongings? (Actually, I did do that, but I was only 69.) Drive late at night? (Only if I really, really have to.) Hike the entire Appalachian Trail? (Not a chance.)
Sandra Jones Johnson recalled her mother’s favorite saying, “Old age isn’t for sissies!” and John Cooch seconded that, “You gotta be tough!” It’s true that no one gets to our age without challenges and sorrows. But many of the responses expressed gratitude at having made it to 75, especially since too many of our class members and other friends didn’t, as Verda Sisson, Gene Tanabe, Marty Paul Sauer, and Dale Withers Peck noted. (Although Gene did point out that his father made it to 101.)
And others talked about wonderful things that living to 75 years have made possible, such as long marriages (for Jan Shively Pratt, 56 years to her high school sweetheart) and “watching the lives of my grandkids unfold”, as John Mann put it. (Jan Pratt and Steve Crosswait both have 9; John has 8; Sharon Ralph Gingrich cherishes hers; and Melvin Knox still enjoys the rides at Cedar Point with his.)
Nancy Kepler Kleinschmidt had one other blessing to mention: “My house in Punta Gorda is intact!”
Patricia Arnold Carney had an ingenious idea: “The whole reality of being 75 ‘doesn’t fit’, so it has been added to the donation bag for dropoff.”
And Robert Berning mused, “I keep looking at the expiration date on my credit card and wondering which one of us is going first.”
We heard about some fun birthday observations. Pamela Conn Hyde was given an 8-day family cruise to Mexico and the Caribbean to celebrate her 75th, her nephew’s 50th, and her great-nephew’s 16th birthdays, in an amazing confluence of family milestones. Duane Brown’s husband hosted a pool party for him with friends and neighbors, and Monique Scanio Doherty got birthday calls from her three older brothers, following a longtime family tradition. Betty Bostic-Parks described hers this way, “I had an awesome and wonderful birthday” and what could be better than that?
Now, if by chance you still aren’t 100% happy about turning 75… just wait five years and see what you would give to be this age again!
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