What will you be like?

[Nightshade]

I was rereading the how old will you be in 2006 thread and noticed somthing pensy said about what she would be like at 70.
And it got me rembering that poem "A warning" by Jenny Joseph. About wearing purple and a red hat that doesnt match.
this isnt all of it but its copyrighted still so I cant find a copy online.

WARNING
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
Anyway so I was thinking what do you think you will be like or what would you like to try and get away witth when you are really old.
( and before any of you say it if you are younger than 60 you dont even count as old yet!)
:D:D

[Virgil]

I was rereading the how old will you be in 2006 thread and noticed somthing pensy said about what she would be like at 70.
And it got me rembering that poem "A warning" by Jenny Joseph. About wearing purple and a red hat that doesnt match.
this isnt all of it but its copyrighted still so I cant find a copy online.

Anyway so I was thinking what do you think you will be like or what would you like to try and get away witth when you are really old.
( and before any of you say it if you are younger than 60 you dont even count as old yet!)
:D:D
:bawling: I am already very old!!! :D :nod:

[Nightshade]

OI virg note the and before any of you say it if you are younger than 60 you dont even count as old yet!)
which I put in especially with you in mind :p

[Virgil]

OI virg note the and before any of you say it if you are younger than 60 you dont even count as old yet!)
which I put in especially with you in mind :p
:D I'm only kidding. I'm 44 and I have a long way to go before 70. I have no idea what I will be like when I'm seventy. I can tell you I didn't forsee 25 years ago what i would be like today. I can see similarities and I can see differences.

[Pensive]

Hehehe, nice topic!

Imagine a 70 year old Pensive sitting on an arm chair, looking at the weather outside through window, missing her golden days of childhood, muttering softly:

It is autumn; not without
But within me is the cold
Youth and Spring are all about;
It is I that have grown old

Then the children of neighbours will come and say "Grannie, grannie; give us some candies!"

This will let her gloominess away and Pensive will order them to sit in a circle around her and then she will ask the eldest, oh no, the youngest one to bring her bag of candies and so she will hand those candies to them.

Then Pensive will be asked to tell them the tale. Pensive will merrily nod and tell them the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Harry Potter and Little Red Riding Hood. Children will laugh, cheer, ask her more and more tales. Then the time of poetry and songs will come, everyone will sing and dance; Pensive will become happy in the happiness of children and so in this Pensive will find a way to spend her days... Wouldn't it be lovely? :D

[Shannanigan]

Let's see...seventy...my God that's half a century away right now! :p

Yes, yes, I know I'm so very young and need to enjoy my youth and make smart choices and blah blah blah...:) (I say that in the kindest way sarcasm can sound)

At seventy I hope to be ten years retired from 38 wonderful years of teaching. I'll sit and wait for my retirement paycheck so that I can cash it and play video lottery down the road from the house I built from the ground up...and when I win big money I'll dish it out into secret savings accounts for my grandchildren that I won't tell them or their parents about until AFTER they've found a way to pay for college mwahahaha...

I'll sit on the balcony of my home and look down on Magen's Bay, one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world. I'll get phone calls from past students who are keeping in touch even while they travel the world. I'll get postcards and handwritten letters in the mail and my e-mail inbox will always be overflowing with messages from friends, family, and people I've met in my life. I'll write collections of short stories that may never be published, and read them to the youngest of my grandchildren who are either home for the summer or too young to be in school yet...

And I'll eat chocolate every single day.

[Idril]

I have no doubt that my boys will still be living at home, asking me to pour them a coke with 4 ice cubes in it and wanting to know what we're having for supper. :rolleyes:

[AimusSage]

At seventy, I'd be one of those very active old grandfather like people. Always flirting with the young ladies that work in my retirement home, cracking dirty jokes all the time and always getting away with it because I'm just SO adorable. :angel:
And the TV will always be on the Football channel, watching it all the time, except for when I get to go out in my wheelchair and flirt with other young ladies in the street. :ladysman:
Of course those young ladies I think are in their early twenties are all in their forties and above, but I never wear my glasses, so I don't even notice.
:rolleyes:

[mono]

Well, I only have 47 years before turning 70; and if I seem like this at 23 . . . *sigh.
I will likely appear as one of those silly old men who lives in a large apartment building alone (because he detests the concept of financial credit), who tells jokes that no one understands, feeds birds in the park, remains quiet and shy (though he still finds it one of his worst qualities not worth overcoming), and hopefully continues writing and remaining progressive in old age.
In terms of appearance: bald, hopefully still able to exercise, wearing reading glasses the size of binoculars, and shrunken even shorter (even now, I only stand 5'6'').
Out of all things, I hope mostly to retain my mind; among things I fear appear things I have seen, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disorders. :eek:

[kathycf]

How will I be at 70? Pretty much the way I am now. Lets see...

Hopefully my 85 cats will not chew the furniture too badly and not fight with the 15 dogs. Luckily, I can just let them outside to play on my huge, secluded private lawn. My arthritis from decades of banging away on a computer keyboard will have been cured by my 55 th birthday, so no worries there. Some devilishly attractive young man in his 50's will be my paramour :brow: and all my friends and loved ones will live close enough so I can see them all the time, and far enough away so that I can send them home when they get on my nerves.

[thevintagepiper]

In 55 years I hope to be married, with several grown children. I will play with my grandchildren and write and read and listen to music and make music and talk to my husband, and we will still be very much in love.
I will talk to my dad and learn to be good friends with my mom.
I will eat chocolate, go to Starbucks every day, and I will find popular music that is thoroughly fantastic, because when you weed it out it is always there. I won't laugh at my grandchildren's weirdness, and if they aren't weird enough I will teach them to be. I will help my granddaughters to be feminine and proud to be women, encouraging their parents to train them to be godly wives and mothers.
I will write poems for them all on their birthdays. I will tell them all the crazy things I did when I was little, and not act like I regret them.
And my kids will call me blessed, because I will have fulfilled my highest calling--as a mother.

[miss tenderness]

"I will likely appear as one of those silly old men who lives in a large apartment building alone (because he detests the concept of financial credit), who tells jokes that no one understands, feeds birds in the park, remains quiet and shy (though he still finds it one of his worst qualities not worth overcoming), and hopefully continues writing and remaining progressive in old "
Seems like Willy in the Death of a Salesman Mono!

Mmm, let me see…an old me will be a respectable old lady, full of morals, hence a pretty much boring lol. I'll be retired from long decade of teaching and free to spend more time in my own company not to run the business, because I already have a good deal of workers who understand my business and work together to make the best of what we can do, but to supervise! Sitting on my chair in my office drinking coffee or capatcianoo reading a book and a couple of old aged friends pass by to chit-chat. At home, my last daughter, who is not yet a graduate from university, will receive me warmly and tell me that my married boy and girl will have dinner with us!! forgot to tell you that I and my loving husband have silly problems because he is also retired and we spend a lot of time facing each other and have nothing else to do!

I remembered a poem titled When You are Old by Yeats ,the poet gives a good description of his lover when old ,regretting the old days when she did not value his love, very interesting . You'll enjoy it.
When You are Old
by W. B. Yeats


When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

[Virgil]

You all will be wonderful old people, and I hope we will all still be connected via lit net, joking, fighting, playing games, and talking about our youth.

Reminds me of some lyrics from the Rolling Stones, "Waiting On A Friend:"

Making love and breaking hearts
It is a game for youth
But I'm not waiting on a lady
I'm just waiting on a friend

[Petrarch's Love]

You all will be wonderful old people, and I hope we will all still be connected via lit net, joking, fighting, playing games, and talking about our youth.

By then technology will have advanced to the point where we'll all be able to manifest ourselves as holograms in on another's living rooms and sit down for a proper visit. :lol:

When I'm 70, God willing, I intend to be as active as health will allow. I'll be married to the love of my life and have kids and grandkids whom I'll take to fairs and theme parks and other interesting places (beaches and parks and museums etc.) on a regular basis, and of course "Grandma" will have to join in the games and rides and cotton candy and such.

I'll be one of those profs who keeps teaching the occasional lecture course even after I'm retired, and entertain my students by riding my bike to class and reciting scenes from Shakespearean drama, taking on all the different characters simultaneously myself. I'll be working to get the next novel in my historical fiction series into my editor on time while slowly pegging away at the verse translation of Orlando Furioso I've been working at for the last ten years and helping with the editing of a new online version of The Spenser Encyclopedia.

Every now and again my husband and I will rent a Villa in Tuscany for a month and invite the kids and grandkids to come over for a few weeks. I'll travel whenever I can, and when I come home, I'll come home to a place by the sea. I'll keep going to Opera and concerts and I'll have improved my piano skills and taught myself violin so I'll play in a faculty chamber group at my university. When I'm not doing that I'll be on the stage in whatever old lady role they need to fill at the local community theater.

[Nightshade]

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/fingers/fing24.gif
Oh wow... got to second virgil here Andf I hope we are all still conected.
When I am really old what I really hope is Ill still be able to seeto read and ILl hobble along to the library and ask them for 20 books they recomend a week then Ill bor them out of their minds with tales of how things were done in MY day. and give them a box of choclates at christmas and in july when everyone runs out.

and ILl spend all day baking cakes for bake sales.( well when IM not reading that is)
:D

[Manfred]

Wow! What rosy futures you have planned. I see things quite differently. I expect to have to slave away at some rotten job for some lousy employer-or-other until the day I die. Pensions will have been abolished by the time I reach 70, in order that greedy corporations may make a better profit. My only hope is that I can make some money on the side through writing, although that seems unlikely because I don't have a "niche" audience.
I will probably be listening to old rock music that nobody will understand anymore because protest and social disagreement has been declared illegal. I'll probably be a hermit.

[literaturerocks]

well first of all i hope to retain my mind because it is something i greatly value and i feel that not being able to use it would be worse than death. i would wish to remain in shape and have a relationship with my family. i will probably be the old man who sits in the park looking off into space and thinking deeply and occasionally scribbling thoughts in his notebook. :D

[kathycf]

Wow! What rosy futures you have planned.

At times I feel my future will be very dismal, and sometimes I feel as if I may have no future at all. However, I think it is better to have a little hope for the future and also try to work at making things better for myself right now.


To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic

Albert Schweitzer

Sorry if that seems facetious, it isn't meant to be.

[mono]

Seems like Willy in the Death of a Salesman Mono!
Nah, I did not mean to outline my future so depressingly. :lol:
On the brighter side, I would likely hope to continue anything artistic - attending opera and classical concerts as frequently as possible, continuing my writing, reading lots (and expanding my mini-library), walking about nature (as I do now; and I try to maintain exercise for that reason, among others), and certainly maintaining my great desire to help people.
Though we pretend to visualize the age of '70,' I intend on continuing my passion for the applied sciences and medical field. Though I would probably not continue such a challenging occupation in nursing, I would hope someday to work as a nurse practitioner (similar to an MD), or something. Even if I did not see patients, whom I love seeing and helping, regardless, perhaps I could always work in research or work as a nursing professor; no matter how old I would grow, I would not want to discontinue helping others. :)

[miss tenderness]

do not panic mono lol I'm sure you'll never be that sort of men, I mean Willy's sort. I just remmbered him when I read the begining of your description .

[miss tenderness]

well first of all i hope to retain my mind because it is something i greatly value and i feel that not being able to use it would be worse than death.

I'll give you million points for this point Rock.

[AimusSage]

On second thought, I think I'll be dead before I reach seventy. :)

[apple jiang]

interesting game! it remind me of another similar game that what will you be in 25years.
briefly, I hope I will I be a gentle old lady,a wise mother ,a nice grandmother,a qualified and happy wife , at last , a good person.

[thevintagepiper]

That's an all around good goal. I guess what a lot of us are trying to say, in short :)

[Shea]

If God wants us to be here that long, I may be more of a nurse; Leo will be 80 (a record age for the men in his family). Myself, I will be spry, grandmothers on both sides of my family were still dancing into their 80's. I will have harp sessions with my children and grandchildren, perhaps we will have made several albums together. I will still be stitching and I'll make all kinds of gifts for friends and families. I will be frustrated that I still will not have time to have read all that I've wanted to read. I will tell stories of my childhood because my favorite old ladies do the same for me now. I'll also tell stories that those ladies have told me. My favorite one is one my Irish grandmother told me: When she was a girl in Ireland, a friend of hers lived alone and like most people was very poor. But when this friend would go to town to the market, she would leave her cottage door open and have tea ready on the table. One day, my grandmother asked her, "Why do you leave your door open like that? Why don't you lock it to keep the thieves out?" She answered, "Oh, no child! Suppose some poor soul was passing and needed a cup of tea! They could come in and help themselves!"

[Madhuri]

My favorite one is one my Irish grandmother told me: When she was a girl in Ireland, a friend of hers lived alone and like most people was very poor. But when this friend would go to town to the market, she would leave her cottage door open and have tea ready on the table. One day, my grandmother asked her, "Why do you leave your door open like that? Why don't you lock it to keep the thieves out?" She answered, "Oh, no child! Suppose some poor soul was passing and needed a cup of tea! They could come in and help themselves!"

Did she really do that?? how generous :nod:

[Shea]

Did she really do that?? how generous :nod:
That was just the mentality in that part of Ireland at the time. I would have loved to have lived there then!

[Madhuri]

I plan to work most of the remaining years until 70. But when I am old, besides taking care of my health I would like to learn preparing delicacies, a little bit of gardening. I would also like to rediscover love with my husband (who is yet to come in my life), as all these years we would be running for our jobs, managing this and that, I would like to spend time with him (our kids would have a life of their own and hardly have time for us). I would like to do for him all that I wanted to do but have missed. :) Also, reconnect with our roots, vist our family farm, it has so many types of trees, Mango, Guava, Jamun (dont know what its called in English), pomegranate and a whole range (I know their Hindi names only) :D . It is a beautiful and calm place, away from the hustle n bustle of city life. I wish that it remains the same the next time I visit there.

That is all that has come to my mind, but if there is more I would definitely come back.

[Shea]

That sounds so peaceful, Madhuri! I have a feeling I'll have to stay at least near a city. Leo is very much a people person and I'm determined he will out-live me! But maybe we can visit you at your farm and have a nice cup o tea! :)

[Madhuri]

That sounds so peaceful, Madhuri! I have a feeling I'll have to stay at least near a city. Leo is very much a people person and I'm determined he will out-live me! But maybe we can visit you at your farm and have a nice cup o tea! :)

Why not, you are most welcome :) Whenever you wish to get away from the city you could visit us. But I have this feeling that by that time even that peaceful place would be buzzing with activity. That only time can tell.

[kilted exile]

At 70 I fully intend to be an old curmudgeon telling any young whippersnapper in sight my opinion on everything and then complaining about how "when I was your age I had to work 27 hours a day down the coal mine"

[Shalot]

I don't want to see 70. I am not even depressed anymore and I don't want to be 70.

I don't want to wear Depends (has anyone seen the "Oops, I crapped my pants skit on SNL?).

I don't want to fart with every step I take.

I don't want to be wear SAS shoes.

What's so great about old age? I'm not even 30 yet and my knees kind of hurt on a regular basis. I don't want to be able to NOT get out of the bathtub.

People didn't used to live as long as we do now and maybe that's a good thing.

Cigarettes are a good way to avoid old age. If only they didn't smell so bad...

[Pensive]

REVIVED THREAD

See HERE (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=20998)

[alhara]

i think being 70 will be kinda fun. the thing is is you are 70 and every one knows it, SO YOU CAN fart with every step and poop your pants. It's like the old man in waiting who said he he likes to give little kids the finger and noone cares because he's old. or a comedy skit where an old man is pulled over for speeding and his excuse is that he's dyeing and he can't waste time putzing around 70 will suck health wise but it's like being a teenager again. your kinda outside social rules if you wanna find an up side intend to be a crazy old person with super long grey hair and tll little kids i'm a witch and i do magic and tell them crazy stories and stuff and i don't knwo have grandchildren and read all the time. and eat the food i like and be happy mentally where i'm not physicallyour lives are more than oour bodies.

[dramasnot6]

hopefully i will still be with a decent wit and energy when i am 70, i intend to try to live to at least 100 mind you :p If i am, i would hope to be comfortably retired, having accomplished establishing a family including grandchildren to teach and play with and making some sort of positive difference in the world. I hope i would have developed enough financial security to be able to travel comfortably and appreciate good books and good food(hopefully i would have continued my super health nut diet by then too) and still have an appreciation for long urban walks. Perhaps in reality ALL aspects of this predicted lifestyle at once are unlikely but i like to think i would be enjoying some and remain somewhat optimistic and appreciative of the world too.

[another sara]

i've always thought that i will not live that long! err...im 23 now so ...dont know:yawnb:

[Yelena]

hm...i never imagined myself being 70 yearls old. i think any 70year old remains the same as he used to be 20 or 30 years before. its just that times change and that old person just cant keep up with that. so hopefully, i'll be in my sound mind and good humour............

[GimmyDiamond]

I think I will sing at the top of my lungs while I twirl around dancing with absolutely no one. I will have the most fabulous conversations with the birds, or cats, or dogs . . . whoever has the most to . . . 'say' :D And then at night, whether crawling into a comfy bed with a gazillion pillows or a fridge box behind the furniture place down the street, I will cry myself to sleep asking God why I wasted every moment of my life. Maybe . . .

[dramasnot6]

I think I will sing at the top of my lungs while I twirl around dancing with absolutely no one. I will have the most fabulous conversations with the birds, or cats, or dogs . . . whoever has the most to . . . 'say' :D And then at night, whether crawling into a comfy bed with a gazillion pillows or a fridge box behind the furniture place down the street, I will cry myself to sleep asking God why I wasted every moment of my life. Maybe . . .

oh my...slightly pessimistic are we?

[GimmyDiamond]

dramas
You wrote of your hopes . . . I'm not pessimistic, merely without hope when it comes to myself. Someone once said to me, 'if you can see it, then you can live it'. Well, I can't see myself happily married, with a brood of kids who have their own kids, and a pretty little house with a white picket fence, and a book I had published like I always wanted sitting on a dusty shelf, and a nice chunk of change sitting in my bank account, and the satisfaction in knowing I helped change the world in whatever small way my career may have allowed. I can't see it, I don't have hope for it, so I wrote what I could see. And who I am now is telling me that it would then be a life wasted, thus the sad ending to my vision. If I ever have a happy fairytale vision, I promise to share it as well . . . 'til then . . .

[Basil]

I look forward to yelling at the neighbourhood children to get out of my yard while brandishing my cane in a vaguely menacing fashion.

[bouquin]

When I get really old I won't be able to travel anymore. :(
I shall be curmudgeonly :flare: (so far, it looks promising ... I am already showing the early signs!!).
I shall no longer care about keeping myself skinny, I shall have my chocolate cake and eat it too!

[Granny5]

When I'm 70, I want to wear a bib apron and wear my hair up in a bun with plastic combs and pins and cook all kinds of cakes and cookies for my great-grandchildren so they can eat them and run wild when they get home. I want everyone to want to come to see Granny, not do it out of obligation. I want all the new babies to be brought to me so I can hold and kiss on them and rock them, kinda like I do now, just more of them. I want a full, ample, saggy bosom for the babies to cuddle up to when I'm rocking them. I will not be hateful or selfish and say mean things to anyone. I want my house to be full of family every time I turn around and smell like my Grandma's house did. But on the other hand.....
I want to dress well and keep my hair done and wear makeup. I don't want to become inactive but go out dancing every chance I get. I want to drive a cool car so the great-grandkids keep wanting to borrow it. I'll want my music loud and rockin. And I'll smell like Journey or Channel. I'll drink when I want and have parties when I want. The kids will worry that I'm playing too hard for my age. I want to work at least part time so I can afford to loan the great grandkids money for dates and stuff their parents won't let them have. I want to be a bad influence on them all.
I'll probably end up in some home with a window facing the street so my kids can drive by and wave every Sunday.:lol:

[Virgil]

At 70 I fully intend to be an old curmudgeon telling any young whippersnapper in sight my opinion on everything and then complaining about how "when I was your age I had to work 27 hours a day down the coal mine"

:lol: That sounds like me now!! :p

Glad this thread was revived. It was a good one.

[Shea]

When I'm old, I want to be like my grannie, always a ham and ready to laugh or make a joke. I also want to have her energy. She didn't stop tap dancing till she was 82, and only because her balance was starting to go.

[Taliesin]

Dead.
Come on, do you really expect my generation (born in 1988) to slip through without some massive, world-shaking war? Or, if that is not enough, there are plenty of ecological problems that can reduce the probability of longevity considerably.
Plus, there is always that old good information about world ending in 2012 (we are thinking of doing some kind of celebration in the end of that year).

And if I am that lucky to be alive, it will probably be some style of cyberpunkish corporatocratic future so I would have to work 27 hours a day in a coal mine.


When I would consider some kind of more optimistic future, then well, probably my best friends now would be dead because they have quite bad health problems.
Okay, trying to be more optimistic...peace...happiness...cyanide...er...I' ll try to write something positive tomorrow...if I am alive then.

[Bakiryu]

I want to be that awesome granny that takes the kids skydiving or goes gambling to Vegas, I want to be surrounded by my huge, bustling family and hopefully, my cooking will be edible by this time so I can feed everybody and yell "Put some meat on 'em bones, you're too skinny!"

[LadyW]

I aspire to be a ninja con artist in my later years... :)
Seriously, who would suspect such a sweet old dear? hehehe
But that's just my job under the moonlight. I'll be a cool granny who's hell-bent on making everybody fat with biscuits ;)

[Shalot]

i think being 70 will be kinda fun. the thing is is you are 70 and every one knows it, SO YOU CAN fart with every step and poop your pants. It's like the old man in waiting who said he he likes to give little kids the finger and noone cares because he's old. or a comedy skit where an old man is pulled over for speeding and his excuse is that he's dyeing and he can't waste time putzing around 70 will suck health wise but it's like being a teenager again. your kinda outside social rules if you wanna find an up side intend to be a crazy old person with super long grey hair and tll little kids i'm a witch and i do magic and tell them crazy stories and stuff and i don't knwo have grandchildren and read all the time. and eat the food i like and be happy mentally where i'm not physicallyour lives are more than oour bodies.

that's awesome. that's a good way to do it. I'll just be crazy as hell. except, I probably won't have kids or grandkids so it won't matter

[Pensive]

Dead.

My crystal magical ball predicts you would be alive by then, sorry for the bad news.


When I would consider some kind of more optimistic future, then well, probably my best friends now would be dead because they have quite bad health problems.

Yeah, very optimistic indeed with all your best friends dead. :rolleyes: There was this person I had heard of who drank severely, smoke a lot, and had really bad health problems but a few of his relatives and friends still believed he would stop and with their support and his own will he did. Lived quite a long happy life afterwards seemingly. Now that was an optimistic approach of his friends.



When I'm old, I want to be like my grannie, always a ham and ready to laugh or make a joke. I also want to have her energy. She didn't stop tap dancing till she was 82, and only because her balance was starting to go.

Heh your granny sounds very interesting.

[1n50mn14]

XD
I'm going to smoke cigarettes and eat chocolate cake all day. Hey, if I've made it that far, I'm not really too concerned about my health after that. May as well enjoy the rest of my days and indulge in unhealthy pleasures.

I will also have a lot of goats.

Not the cat lady.

The crazy goat lady.

[Anza]

I'm gonna be the horse lady!! in an old big house that will house all the neighborhood kids and my grandbabies and all their frinds. I will cook in cauldrons like a witch. I will do cartwheels in my decripitness