Social Security, Medicare and Death
I think I may be a senior citizen! Well fuck...how and when did that happen?
I spent the last couple of days with some old classmates. Maybe former is the better word to describe us but I feel kinda old so like I said, maybe.
This group gets together every year for three days of reuniting, hanging out and eating...lots of food! I've known a lot of these peeps since age ten and some even go back to Kindergarten. That's more than fifty years or to make it sound really old...half a century ago. OY!!
Don't get me wrong, it's a ton of fun and everyone has a good time, including me. There's a lot of laughing and a ton of memories shared. But there's a lot of old people talk, too. It's scary...fucking scary!!
Since the 2015 reunion, there have been two deaths that I know of...probably more. Lots of talk about that and remembrances. Hey, that's not such a bad thing. But, you have to wonder, who's next? Plus having your peers die puts your own mortality in your head. It may be in the back of your brain, but it's there.
It gets to be a little much and at some point someone will say, let's change the subject...myself included.
So where do we go next.....old people benefits!
At my age (64), there's a lot to think about. Should I keep working? Full-Time or Part-time? If I retire, what am I going to do? Should I take Social Security now? If not now, when? How much do I lose by taking it early? How long do I have to live to make that up? Medicare? Do I have to take it? Do I have to apply and when?
SIGH!! I told you it's a lot to think about.
So what can you do to keep young or at least avoid getting old before your time? KEEP BUSY!!!
You hear a lot of stories about how people are bored after they retire or even worse, they die soon after retiring. You need to find something that you like to do and then actually do it. Play Golf, volunteer somewhere, workout, write, paint, travel and it pains me to write this, play Mah Jong. Do anything but sit around. It also helps to have human contact occasionally. You can always hit a local senior center and hang out with the other seniors. They have lots of activities there.
That leads to the above picture. Remember the movie "Going in Style"? George Burns as Joe, Art Carney as Al and Lee Strasberg as Willie played three elderly gentlemen, living together on fixed incomes, who spent most of their days sitting on a park bench watching the pigeons. They were killing time, waiting to die. They came up with an idea to rob a bank. It helped with their income and did put some excitement in their dreary lives. Maybe too much excitement since Lee and Art died and George ended up in prison but you get the point which is don't let life pass you by or maybe it's life is short, do something with it.
So to the folks I spent the weekend with, it was great being with you and look forward to it again next summer. We should bring our Medicare cards.
Pete: [visiting Joe in the prison] The lawyer says they're gonna' be a lot tougher on you than you thought, Joe, if you don't give 'em back the money.
Joe: Yeah? Well, screw them.
Pete: I don't know, Joe. Maybe you should just give 'em back the money from the robbery.
Joe: Forget it. Al and Willie would both die if I gave that money back. Besides, Pete, let me tell you something. For the past couple of years, me, Al and Willie all sat on that park bench and looked at each other. Maybe a politician would come around and talk to us at election time, but that was about it. That was our life.
Joe: [continues] Here I've got my own cell, with a toilet and a sink. Food's okay, and I'm feeling good. As a matter of fact, they treat me like a king around here. Everyone comes around to talk, and they all want to do me favors. Pretty soon they'll all wind up asking me where I hid the money. They don't know it, but they're all older than me.
Here's the story from last years reunion.
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