Sunday, March 30, 2014

I know I am OLD but I may be ELDERLY too!

The evening news reported that an ELDERLY woman was found dead in a Macy’s restroom. She died the night before and was not discovered until the next day.
The reporter went on to say the name of the ELDERLY woman was being withheld to notify next of kin.  This elderly woman appeared to die from natural causes and she was 61 YEARS OLD!!

I would report this story very differently.
1.     Omit the restroom reference. I would only say found at Macy’s.
2.     I would NEVER call a 61-year-old woman ELDERLY!

I did a very informal poll of my friends and we all agree on several points:
1. Never use the restroom at Macy’s, find a Nordstrom.
2. 61 is not ELDERLY!!

I retold this story at a birthday party of a good friend. She was turning 61. Her 3 adult children were present and although they laughed at our outrage of being called ELDERLY, they made overtones of “Not you Mom, not you Haralee”. They are really good kids.
 
Most likely she is 61!
My husband, also 61, thinks my outrage is funny. He wants to be called ELDERLY because he thinks that will give him some respect, being an ELDER. It is an interesting perspective but I really can’t embrace it. To me OLD comes first than ELDERLY.  Maybe it is the other way around?

So what age are you OLD, and when are you ELDERLY, and when are you GERIATIC and when are you ANCIENT?












7 comments:

Rena said...

Great article!

Haralee said...

Thanks Rena for reading and commenting!

Patty Chang Anker said...

Oh Haralee, I laughed out loud at this!! You are not old or elderly - I think of "elderly" as someone who is frail and the eldest of all the people in the vicinity. I'm certain there are ladies over 61 who frequent department store restrooms :)

Haralee said...

Thanks Patty! I think Nordstrom's restroom are checked more often, just saying!

Style4LessVegas said...

Thanks for making me laugh! I agree...find a bathroom at Nordstrom, unfortunately we only have a Macy's here in Albuquerque. At age 52, I always refer to myself as old. My husband will soon turn 63 and I always use him to get the senior discounts. ;-) I would say that you are not ancient until your late 80's and in poor health.
http://whosaprettygirl.com

Haralee said...

Thanks Darlene I agree ancient is late 80's!

Unknown said...

There are so many people die silently because of natural reasons and some of them are killing also by the way this is a sad news about buy essay custom and that old woman.