I just returned from spending three weeks visiting my parents in Arizona. They live in an “active adult community” (or a 55+ Community) and the average age in their neighborhood is around 75. They’re the young kids on their block, basically.
The community itself is pretty great. There’s golf courses, tennis and pickleball courts, and Bingo nights. There are committees to join. People wave to you when you pass them. And most of the time, it’s the kind of quiet you don’t even realize you miss until you experience it. They didn’t set out to live in this kind of community when they decided to move West, but I can absolutely see why they chose one.
This was my second visit, and I learned and noticed a few more things this time around.
1. Respect Bingo
Bingo is not a joke. It’s a serious game. And if you don’t show up at least 15 minutes early with your dauber (marker) and your game face on, you may as well stay home.
I don’t even have a picture of it to show you. THAT’s how serious it was.
2. Golf carts are actually pretty badass
Think whitewall tires are only for cars? Think again.
3. There’s no such thing as too many lawn ornaments
Not sure whether you have enough metal cacti or roadrunners in your lawn? That’s a sign that you need more.
4. Life is too short to not wear whatever the #@$! you want
Rock that purple shirt with purple pants and purple shoes. Wear your pants as high as you want them (and bonus point if you add a belt). Wear socks with sandals and wear them with shorts. Wear that lipstick color people think is “too young” for you. WHO. CARES.
5. You’re only “too old” when you think you are
While I was stretching after a workout, a man using a walker entered the gym and got himself on the recumbent elliptical machine. As I left, I heard him tell the guy on the machine next to him, “I know the day I stop this is the day I stop everything, and I’m not ready to stop yet.”
Not ready to stop
It may sound like I’m just making things up for a laugh. However, this visit genuinely made me think about how much time people my age waste caring what others think about every aspect of their lives. There are so many more important things in life. And we miss those things when we allow others’ opinions of us to take over our thoughts or determine our choices.
It also made me think about what kind of life would I be proud to reflect on when reaching 70/80/90 years old. What would I wish I spent more time doing? What would I wish I spent less time doing?
The words of that old man in the gym – “I’m not ready to stop yet” – have really stuck with me. That’s the attitude I want to keep embracing the older I get.
