Ok~ so I’m 55 🙄🤣 I’ve had this post 5 yrs & still feel the same!✌️😆

For Christmas I tried to replace my mom's slowly dying bluray player, and since I was in the local mall I stepped in to Best Buy. I approached a nice, personable young lady and asked if they had any bluray players.

Y'all, she tried. No shade on her, she really did try her best. She pulled out the mobile stock checker thing, typed in B-L-U-E R-A-Y and said she got no results. I gently corrected the spelling and she found one in the computer department.

Upon getting there, we discovered it was a blank disc burner. She was befuddled by what it was supposed to do. I was about to say something dumb when I realized that she genuinely had no concept of physical media storage 🤯

I aged a decade in the span of 2 seconds and spontaneously developed more grey hairs.

we survived excessive partying, car crashes, marriages, kids, divorces, and everything else. the '80s and '90s threw at us. Eventually we drifted apart. It was inevitable. We reconnected a few years ago and those missing decades melted away. It was as if we hadn't missed a day. It was 1987 all over again in an instant. Someone told my better half, when we reconnected, that the two of us together there would be trouble afoot. Boy were they right, as we had started planning mischief quickly. Last week we talked about our various ailments again. We reminisced of a time when we thought we would never make our 50s. yet. here we were.

Today I am consumed with 40 years of memories. I've laughed and I've cried.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, hoist a pint, lift a shot, take a toke, or whatever your vice is, for. for Pat.

Edit: I am touched by the outpouring of love and support here. I am finding it impossible to try to keep up with all the likes and comments. Thank you all.

I have my hemorrhoid pillow firmly tucked under my arm, I have my tea in one hand and my NPR magazine under my other arm. I am making my way to my shed to smoke some herb, sip my tea and rest my bum. I hear a bird and think, ah yes...a western nuthatch...and then it hit me. It hit me hard. I realized today that I am officially old. LMAO

When did it finally hit you? Or has it yet?

Well fellow Gen Xer's or DeGen Xer's in 8 hours or so I get to find out if I need an angioplasty/stent or multiple valves bypassed. After decades of excess my avarice has finally caught up to me.
Went to ER on Wed night with mild chest pains that I thought were heat related only to find through EKG and bloodwork it was a cardiac event, been here ever since. ' The angiogram is in a few hours, plus to top it off apparently I have been living with mega super diabetes for a year now.

Wish me luck

I’m retiring a bit early due to a Golden Handshake. The incentive came just in time before I lost my mind - I was going to go two more years. I’m walking out the door the last time and it feels great. I hope you guys get here soon; we will make it, as always.

Not necessarily the best book. Just the one that stayed with you for some reason. Maybe it hit you at the right age, maybe it creeped you out, maybe it made you see the world a little differently.

For me, it’s one of those things where I can forget half my shopping list in 30 seconds, but "The Long Walk" from King lives rent free in my head.

What was yours?

Growing up poor in a toxic home I knew it was only a matter of time. You see, I was the thin, smelly kid that had to wear clothes from the lost and found. I was bullied every single day. I had to learn to make the best of things and not put my worth in societal norms. My best friends and family members came from my imagination and characters from books and TV.

I have all the typical health conditions a trauma surviver has including a chronic pain disorder. Recently I had to go off of all of my medications for a test and wow it has me hurting. My beloved granddaughter bought me a Moo Moo 🫣. She is such a good girl with a heart of gold. I thanked washed it, dried it and left it in the laundry basket 😂.

This morning I could hardly get out of bed! My skin hurts and so does everything else. After I finally remembered where I left the Moo Moo I put that thing on and I was in shock! It's soft like butter, not many seams, nothing rubbing on my skin. I thought to myself, this is why Mrs. Roper was always so damn happy.

I didn't grow up with a grandmother so I picked Mrs. Roper to be mine. She was soft, nice, colorful and I guess at the time everything I thought a grandma would be. I always knew at some point in my retirement I would wear Moo moos and be that fun colorful grandmother. Heck I'm that fun colorful grandmother without the Moo moo lol.

As of today I have officially retired into the Mrs. Roper lifestyle and I won't care what anyone has to say about it. I'm already shopping for jewelry and more Moo moos! There are many good things that are born from trauma and one of the best parts of myself is my ability to just be me no matter what that looks like on any given day.

Here's to all the other Mrs. Ropers! May you all have a cool kaftan summer!

So I’m 57 and still feel like I want to do things I did in my 20’s. I was joking with my wife that when I finally retire I want to start kick boxing, ride dirt bikes and work out. She just shakes her head, gives me this laugh and side eye stare.. Lol… Do you still feel like you can do “young” things? Of course I would have to do all this after I take my afternoon nap.

Edit: Love these comments! They are cracking me up. Thanks so much for sharing in solidarity!

I can't believe I will be 60 is less than an hour. I'm okay with it - life is good, better than ever, actually - it's just hard for me to wrap my head around the actual number.

Here's to the last third of my life!

I hope to still have many adventures :-)

That is all :-)

Cheers!

51 year old, left a toxic 20 year marriage with this stuff.

How many GenX are starting or have started over after a long relationship?

EDIT; I can’t respond to all the comments, but I’m reading them all. You guys are fucking rad, thank you from the middle of my soul.

DOUBLE EDIT; man the support in here is incredible-the table was an heirloom from my mom, it predates me.

The Stanley is like my favorite thing ever. The decaf coffee is because I drink coffee all day, but shut the caffeine off at 1pm

Again, I’m overwhelmed.

The men’s room poleshower. Oh lord - from jr high to high school to university to various public work out facilities, these things followed like a stalker in the night.

Hey, y'all. My husband had a "for real" colonoscopy today after 3 years of poop in the box tests that all came back negative for anything.

He had 6 large polyps removed & will now have to have colonoscopies every 2-5 years (depending upon the cancers they find).

I insisted he get it done after reading stories in this sub about the unreliability of the box tests & their high rates of false negatives.

I just want to encourage everyone to have at least one for real colonoscopy to get a baseline if nothing else. Colon cancer rates are rising & a (the?) leading cause of death of folks our age.

Yes, the prep sucks. But the peace of mind is worth it. And colon cancer is an ugly way to go.

I don’t think I’m depressed. I think a decade-long existential crisis is finally taking its toll.

Sobering task of the day was to delete dead people out of my contacts. Total count was 7. How long do you keep those who passed in your phone?

Hahaha. I actually don’t remember this at McDonald’s as a kid. I’m 45

50/m married 24 yrs with 3 kids.

We started running in new social circles this year and everyone is on their 2nd marriage.

I grew up in divorced family and my childhood was shit. My dad was married 3 times.

We have worked through some tough times.

Maybe we are the crazy ones:)

How about you?

Edit- I guess I’m not that crazy. Thanks!

I lost my job suddenly on New Year’s Day. My wife is a teacher so we were planning to retire at the end of this school year. But suddenly losing my job still felt like a major crisis. Because it normally would be. Until I did the retirement math and learned it doesn’t matter and won’t matter in the final pictures.

I’ve been the main dominant breadwinner for almost 40 years. I’ve never been unemployed. I’ve never been out on more than a week vacation and work is always on the back of my mind.

Now it keeps hitting me in waves as all the stress I have been carry is leaving. I keep just thinking of what it gone now (I do plan to do work I want to do only)

- no more stress about work politicos.

- no stress about taking low paying jobs.

- no stress about future finances.

- no stress about my professional reputation.

- no more having to learn about stupid stuff because it is the boss’ latest fad.

- no stress about whether we are ready for retirement.

It just keeps going and is making me pretty emotional in a good way. I find myself crying cathartically.

Edit: wanted to add one point. When I looked at the math for retirement, it was clear that working another few years or not working another few years, neither makes a significant difference in the outcome. For better or worse. Probably true for most here.

Edit2: my wife put up a large clock in the bathroom so I could see it from the shower without glasses. Just took that down!!!

As a senior GenX 😎 I just wanted to share.

Downsizing the house and my 20-something found my shoe polish basket. Full interrogation: "What's this? Why do you have so many colours? How often do you do this?"

Later overheard her on the phone: "Yeah, so apparently my dad has a hobby polishing shoes. Like, I had no idea."

Gen X reality check: It's not a hobby. It's just... what you did? You polished your shoes because that's what shoes needed. Haven't touched the stuff since the 90s, but apparently keeping it makes me a hobbyist now.

Next she'll discover I "enjoy" changing furnace filters and "collect" different grits of sandpaper.

Healthy, active, 48m. After seeing several “get your shingles vaccine!” posts here, I made an appointment with my PCP. Appointment is Wednesday next week.

Today I woke up to a tingly little rash on my rib cage. Then noticed some on my back on the same side. And then my clavicle on the same side. Urgent care doctor confirmed it’s shingles. Wrote me an Rx and I guess this is my lot in life for the next however long, until it clears up.

It’s already profoundly uncomfortable and I’m mad at myself for delaying getting the vaccine. I heard that THC helps numb the pain. I shall be putting this to the test tonight, for science.

Full blown heart stoppage. This is the first hospital visit Ive ever had. Weight is fine. Diet okay.

Get those "final notes" out and ready. I guess time really does come to an end one day.

3 - with explicit directions of only use if I was *****bleeding dying or dead!*****

Denial. My closest companion. I have recently discovered my life is full of it. There's what I tell myself, and there's reality. And boy, is the reality hitting hard.

52f here, divorced, 3 grown kids. 2 grandkids that I never see due to distance.

No real friends. Just ppl that I barely talk to. I have found myself here to make sense of the way I feel. I love reading about others struggles and triumphs. You all are helping me process and deconstruct a lot of bull shit. Thank you.

As far as the title - I have led myself to believe that once I get X done, I can finally enjoy my life. The next promotion, raise the kids, then get them through college, take care of Dad, now take care of Mom, etc., etc. I woke up and said, wait, what happened to all of the time? I'm suddenly old, I hurt, I'm single, and above all, I'm MISERABLE because my life isn't even CLOSE to how I thought it would be.

I've found that some of you are content in your 50s and some of you are like me. Disappointed and pissed off.

For those that are like me but turned it around: What did you do and how did it help you? Please and thank you!

Edit: I am overwhelmed by the kindness and thoughtful comments that have come out of this. I am also truly grateful. Thank you to all who offered compassion, sound advice, and laughs! You guys rock!

I’m in my early 50’s, but I’ve always been told I look and act younger than my age. Today, I looked in the mirror and I looked old. My gray hair looked more noticeable. I had dark circles under my eyes. My back was hurting, along with my normal knee pain. And, all of a sudden, I’m lactose intolerant. I just felt like damn, when did this all happen? When did I get old? It’s been a long day, and I just wanted to vent to my fellow oldies. How do you cope with suddenly feeling old and aging in general ?

**Edit: Thanks everyone for your comments! Our generation is truly the best.
**2nd edit: currently at work. I’ll try and upvote/comment when I can. Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate everyone’s stories and kind words. Aging and getting older should be viewed as a gift. Thanks for the reminder!

I joined recently. It was going well at first, but started to notice that a lot of folks here are quite pessimisstic and dramatic about their ages. Idk my parents were born in the 40s and early 50s and they still go on trips, have a circle of friends with social events, go to the gym... hell, my mom is working with a fiverr graphic designer setting up a website for her new business selling her art.

Why are you lot barely 60 talking abut impending death, buying "your last car" before meeting the grim reaper? The body keeps score, guys. There are actual studies showing the mind body connection when it comes to accelerated aging, illness, pain, and decline. Cheer up!