Sunday, July 1, 2018

I spent some time mowing the same grass I mowed yesterday

We got that rainy thunderstorm weather in the afternoons. I remember summer camp. They would caution us to be careful as we walked under the electric lines in the open going to dinner in the evening. With blank minds, we said we would.

My latest dog, Little Red.


Being careful about what can't be controlled. We should have taken another route.

I went to a psychic about a week ago. I've heard of this woman over the years. I guess she was about ten years older than me. My sister had gone to see her years ago and wanted a reading. So I spent part of my reading telling her my sister had had a stroke and asked her to be careful what she told her. Even a psychic needs a heads up.

A teacher I had worked with who was probably glad my "hardass" left hosted the get together. I'm a quasi believer in psychics. I don't think anyone has the ability to tell you the future. But sometimes, I think there are some gifted. I watched a show about psychic detectives on the ID channel before they sanitized their shows so much.

When she was talking to me, I listened and chatted a bit with her. She told me I had to get my blood pressure and blood sugar under control before it affected my health. At my age and at my size, that was a given I would have problems with either one.

What surprised me is that she mentioned me being a care giver without any prompt. She said I needed to not be so generous with my money. I admit I spend my entire pension each month in support of my family. It has been weighing on me to get a bit more serious about saving. I'm 62 so there is a piece of me that wonders why.

I went ahead and applied for social security. I worked 19 years in a school system that did not take money out for social security. That reduced my benefit by 60 percent due to the Windfall Provision. I get $561 a month. I was a bit disappointed. But hey, I get something. I wanted to use the money to save and retire my mortgage a bit early. I hope to just save it for a rainy day or household repairs which will happen in time. I had worked second jobs for about 8 years during those 19 years. I thought that time would help but I guess not.

Now that I shared my personal business about money, I will tell you about my love life. Well I'll let you know if one happens.

My sister asked the psychic if she would get married again. I felt sad. The psychic said no but she would have romance. She is handicapped by the stroke. I hope she continues to recover and the psychic is wrong.

The early years of being a senior citizen is much like getting out on your own in your late teens and early twenties. It is a big shift is relating to the realities of this world. My older brother had a nurse sit him down and tell him he is getting older and he needed to slow down.

I'm back to blogging about who knows what. I wanted to sort of start writing book reviews. It's difficult to finish books when you have eight in different locations at various stages of being read. I wound up buying a hard copy of Shawn Coyne's book The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know.  It was too hard to follow on a Kindle. I've started from the beginning which is a chore. He wastes the first part of book basically selling his book.

I forgot to ask the psychic about how my writing career will fare. If you want to know the truth, that is my love life. I would like a boyfriend. But they are a lot of work. If I could find a man who loved to mop floors, clean out my closets, cook a yummy meal for my family, there would be some real romance in my life. I don't know how he would feel about me using my free time to catch a movie or go to water aerobics while he was watching Price is Right with my mother.

But I remember romance. It was fun.



13 comments:

  1. I hope your writing career goes gang busters.
    I am a fence sitter where psychics are concerned. Some without doubt are gifted and genuine. And others are opportunistic con artists. It must be such a hard life for the genuine article. I hope they have an off button.

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    1. You are very kind with your sentiments Elephant's Child.
      I feel this woman was sincere. But isn't the off button a necessity. I don't know if I could handle it. Like you, I am a skeptic about psychics. There are definitely con artists.

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  2. I believe God gifts people. Are all gifted who claim to be? That I don't know. And what I don't know, I usually try to stay away from :) I did have a clown one time at the local fair tell me that my daughter was depressed. I shrugged it off but two years later she was diagnosed with major depression when I was at my wits end trying to figure out what was going on with her.

    I have trouble relating to the fact I'm 60 and aging. Lots of doctors I type for refer to people in their 60s as elderly and I certainly don't consider myself elderly yet. I still stop and wonder where the "heck" the years went. I hope to hang on and not apply for Social Security until I'm 66-1/2; that's when I become eligible to do so. But I might take it early at 62 if things aren't working well with my present job and I don't find something else in the meantime. That's 1-1/2 years away.

    I like Little Red :) She seems like a cutie to add to your family!

    betty

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    1. 60 is indeed a sobering number. I was cool with 50. After the world seemed broken when I turned 30, I vowed to never get torn up over my age again. But this senior citizen part does not sit well with me. But But But - I better get used to it. lol

      Well you got at least 2 years before you are official. I had always planned to wait on my social security. We do have longevity in our family and it would benefit me to wait. But since my benefits are reduced so much, I have no regrets.

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  3. No matter what she said, your life and future are in your own hands. Write!

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    1. Thanks Alex. I've decided to continue writing. Choice has as much to do with what you do as circumstance.

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  4. I have little coming in also, thought it would be fun. My apartment was flooded and now I am in limbo looking for a new place. It will be months before this gets fixed.

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    1. A flooded apartment is definitely not good. I hope you get re-situated as easily as possible. I wish I lived closer to help you move.

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  5. My social security will be tiny, too, since I've spent a lot of years self-employed.

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    1. Everything in life is a trade off. Money can't buy happiness but it can keep you comfortable. I hope you're able to put something away to retire on. Sometimes I regret not pursuing my creative side earlier; but, when I get my pension check, I know I made the right choice. Besides, I was never naturally intuitive. It has taken quite a bit of life experiences for me to understand a bit of human nature.

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  6. Getting older isn't fun and neither is having to think about money. You're so generous but don't forget to take care of yourself too.

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  7. You would think something as important as your writing would come up in a psychic reading, if nothing else than as a hidden desire. I used to read Tarot cards (many years ago) and I had a surprising amount of success with them. A lot of it depended on choosing the right type of reading for a person.

    Getting older is no fun at all. But with the way people are more health conscious these days, 60 is the new middle-age really. I'm going to my aunt's 90th birthday party in a couple of weeks, and she's only now starting to slow down. I remember she couldn't wait to turn 65 so she'd be eligible for all kinds of seniors benefits. Now it's my turn to wait. :-)

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  8. I am very sceptic about psychics. I had my fortune told once and she was totally wrong but someone who is supposed to be a psychic maybe a little differet, who knows.
    Age is just a number I keep telling myself - 75 next month!!
    Hope you get back to writing, good luck and take care Diane

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