Old means, you’re just younger than me!

Since Jan and I began the blog we’ve had several people say, “Why did you have to use the word ‘old’ to refer to yourselves?”

We thought long and hard about calling ourselves “old” and came to the conclusion that hiding behind another term like seasoned, mature, in our golden years etc., was just falling into line with the way “older” people are treated in society like we should be ashamed of it and quite frankly we’re not!

We are old, well older than someone younger than us. We have been around the block several times and like to think that with ‘old’ comes a whole lot of other connotations.

‘With our “old‘ comes a very different attitude to the one that society would like to confine us to.

I remember my grandad retiring at 60 but I don’t remember him doing much with his life after that. My dad and father-in-law retired at 60, sadly Max died within six years of retiring but my dad’s 87, that’s an awful long time for nothing as he has no hobbies and no friends of his own.

Allan and I have talked a lot about our retirement since his brother announced on Christmas Day that he was going to retire in March. We asked him not long ago what he would do when he retires because doing so when he turned 60 has been his dream, his answer, “All the things I don’t do now”. Quite frankly the thought of retiring with a plan like that scares the life out of both of us!

I turn 60 next year and retirement is the furthest thought from my mind. I’m far too young to retire!

See you can use the word young and be old!

I’m young at heart. Some would say I’m childish or in denial about what or how I should behave heading to the big 60 but I love the idea that at 60 I can shock people, that they look at me and think, “She’s not 60!” and most of that comes, from my attitude.

What prompted Twooldgirls originally was a conversation Jan had with Ironman legend from the 1980s Erin Baker.

Jan and Erin had just finished a 90km ride over in Germany and were sitting on a bench chewing the cud. Both had achieved great things in a time when women’s equality in sport wasn’t a given. Both had and still have very successful careers and yet they felt the women they were, were disappearing, somehow weren’t relevant anymore.

Jan and I talked many times about how we feel about being older and came to the conclusion that we needed to do something for ourselves and certainly not wait for society to catch up and realise we weren’t ready for blue rinses and pack-a-macs at 60!

I’ve often wondered where I got my feistiness from, my determination to buck the trend. My mum has said many times, “I don’t know where we got you from, you’re nothing like the others.”

I recently started researching my ancestry and found a few clues from way back. Whilst I don’t have any mysterious villains, or nobility hidden away, several times the women of the family have shone through as strong characters. One particular fact that makes me smile is at least three of my female ancestors married men seven or eight years younger than them – the original Cougars!

I looked up the definition of retirement.

1. An act of retiring, the state of being retired.
2. Withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from active working life.
3. A place of seclusion.

There are articles for Africa out there about when and how you should retire, and whilst I’m sure it’s great not to have to work every day, it’s the withdrawal aspect of retirement that bothers me, the seclusion.

I don’t want to withdraw from society or be in seclusion anywhere. I want to still kick over the traces. I want to be the mad old bird who doesn’t succumb to wearing pastel cardies and lament the dreadful way young people behave.

I want to move my body as much as possible, the speed doesn’t matter. No-one is going to tell me I can’t because I’m 60 or any other age. I will decide how ‘old” I really am inside my head, not a society that frowns on anyone over 45. If retirement means accepting limitations then I will NEVER retire.

And anyway, there’ll always add another age category in a race if I can just get my saggy “old” backside to the start line so absolutely no reason at all to stop what I’m doing.

So hopefully, 2020 will be a celebration of being alive for 60 years, of making the most of every opportunity that comes my way, of inspiring others who think they can’t, that they can. There’s no room for retirement in my world – just yet!