I must really be looking old and wrecked tonight.

[NNadir]

I'm at the airport and checked in early, stopped for a vastly overpriced beer after getting through security, mostly because I needed to sit to rest my bad back and hip.

I went to the gate on my boarding pass only to find the flight there was to Chicago whereas I'm going to Boston. The gate changed from concourse B to concourse A.

It was quite a walk, and the pain started rising, but I would have made it with a few sitting stops. Then one of those shuttle cart drivers took a look at me and invited me to get on. She drove me to the gate. When I got there, all the seats were full, but a nice young man offered me his.

On one level the kindness is thrilling; on another I wonder how terrible I look.

The days when I could sprint across airports for connections are over.

I am happy to have lived a long time and if the price is a little manageable pain mixed with human kindness, well I'm a lucky guy.

Happily I don't have to travel as much as in younger days.

[msongs]

1. you look lovely from here nt

[Demobrat]

2. A young teen offered me his seat on the bus the other day.

Man was I bummed!

[Mr.Bill]

3. You should get a handicapped placard.

My wife got one years ago because of arthritis and asthma. When she flies, they put her in a wheelchair, and a guy pushes her right to the gate, no waiting in long lines for security (Still have to go through, but no waiting in line) and she is the first to board the plane. She doesn't always use this if she's feeling okay, but it's nice to have it when she needs it.

I didn't know this, but my wife tells me you don't need a placard for this service, just request a wheelchair when you buy the ticket. Anyone can do it. But that placard is nice to have when you need it elsewhere.

[JoseBalow]

4. The best part of using a wheelchair

R E S P E C T !

[Mr.Bill]

5. Don't give Trump any ideas.

[eggplant]

7. wait, you mean a handicapped parking thing you hang on your mirror?

[Mr.Bill]

9. Yes.

They also give you paper documentation to carry with you.

[eggplant]

24. My wife has a placard. It never occurred to me to carry it anywhere but a car.

[Mr.Bill]

25. My wife carries hers in her purse.

That way it works for any car she's riding in, like if she goes to the store with her daugter. We don't need the placard in our car because we have the license plates. There are lots of public facilities that have things just for handicapped folks. An example would be a sports staium where you need to be handicapped to use certain elevators, because they don't have elevator capacity for thousands of people to get to the upper decks. Another advantage is she can designate one other person as her "attendant" and they can go wherever she does. I've never done it, but If she needed assistance in a public restroom I could literally go in there with her.

[femmedem]

6. The best part about getting older

is the visceral realization of how precious life is.

[WheelWalker]

11. It's worth being old now, to have been young then.

From my perspective.

[babylonsister]

13. Ha! Easy for you to say.

I'm about to find out if it was worth it. But I think it's all good.

[jfz9580m]

30. I like being old..

I was far too sensitive when I was younger..when I was 33 I was a wimp. Now at 45 I am ready to take on any creeps who bother me .

Nothing scares creeps (or their cowardly supporters) more than a woman who refuses to back down (or that is the theory I am backing with all my money.) .

Youth..bah - it is overrated..I love aging..
Nothing as comfortable as being a middle aged woman who stands up for herself.

[Mr.Bill]

31. I like it, too.

I'm 70 years old, and just about every day, I let someone know it.

[jfz9580m]

32. Cheers Mr.Bill!

🍻
I hope I have that attitude when I am that age . I am planning on living into a ripe old age in good health if I can - my grandparents all lived to be over 85 so I hope I do too. My mom left us sadly early (multiple myeloma).

[NNadir]

21. I will certainly second that.

I feel my mortality a great deal now. It doesn't actually frighten me so much as it fills me with the thrill of having lived at all.

[lynintenn]

8. I broke my ankle last week and I am on crutches

If you ever had a bad knee, hip, ankle or back you really appreciate kindness of strangers. I have found there are a lot of good people out there.

[barbtries]

10. you probably had the pain on your face.

i was offered a wheelchair at the airport once. i know i look my age and then some.

[slightlv]

12. When you're in pain you show it throughout your body...

in your face, the way your carry your body, etc. At least for me, it's impossible to hide it. The old saying about wearing your emotions on your sleeve applies to my pain, as well.

[tavernier]

14. I'm heading to the airport in three weeks to fly to Indiana to see my family.

I’m 77 and I am a widow, so I travel alone, and very kind people often offer me help with lifting luggage or giving up their seat, or a place in line. I am very healthy as I walk a great deal and I still work a physical job, So I am pretty comfortable doing these things on my own, but I don’t mind playing the old lady card from time to time when I just would rather accept some help than do it all on my own. Shhh, Don’t tell anybody.

[unc70]

29. Over 75 benefits going through airport security

All that nonsense of taking your shoes off, etc. seems to be eliminated most places, at least in the US. (Outside the US, I have only had to remove my shoes maybe twice in the last ten years or so.)

You can request a wheelchair just by asking the airline at any time. While I have only once needed that service (after a hospital visit in Venice), several of my travel companions routinely use it. Particularly helpful with a long international connection.

[tavernier]

34. I log in two miles a day at work

and 2-3 in my neighborhood on the weekends so a wheelchair would just be an extra headache at this point. Sometimes they require the shoes off, sometimes not. I don’t care, least of my worries. The only thing that really bothers me at airports is once I’m there, and my ride has left (heading back to the Keys from Miami or Fort Lauderdale) will there be a snafu, like a canceled flight or a very late flight if I’m taking a connection? That can screw up my whole day or even week and it has happened in the past.
Anyway, thank you for the advice and happy travels to you!

[CTyankee]

15. I have never been the same with my arthritic back since I determined myself to go through the entire Sainsbury Wing of

The National Gallery in London. It was my last day of a trip to Great Britain. The Sainsbury Wing contains some of the Gallery's finest works (my favorite is the Crivelli). See the art here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/history/about-the-building/the-sainsbury-wing-20th-anniversary. It was dedicated by the Queen herself.

The Gallery is a place full of treasures (I wonder how much appropriated (stolen) by the Brits, but never mind)...

[agingdem]

16. I know I look old when the

checker at Whole Foods bags my groceries ... one item per bag...I walk out with 15 bags...

[moniss]

37. I get one of two reactions at the self checkout

grocery line from the attendant. They either think I'm so old I don't know how to work the scanner and they come over and begin giving me instructions or they think I might be hard up and going to shoplift and so they hover over me making sure I scan every item.

[sheshe2]

17. Ya look pretty dayum good from here!

[Bayard]

18. Have you ever tried a TENS unit?

The only time physical therapy ever did anything for me was TENS. So I bought my own online--less than $50. I get bad tendinitis in both elbows, both hips, shoulder, etc etc. Plus too many old broken bones. I do occasionally need a steroid injection from my orthopedic surgeon, but the TENS helps a lot in between.

Actually, I need to go get it on my left hip now.

[AllBlue]

19. Lidocaine creme rules too

So says my wife, who deals with lingering after-effects of a few broken bones -


https://www.google.com/search?q=lidocaine%20cream

[Pas-de-Calais]

20. My last airline trip

Bags were checked, working my way towards a Starbucks for an overpriced coffee. Standing in place, eyeing the LONG waiting line, I decided to order thru their app on my phone.
Well, my cane and boarding pass drop to the ground. I sigh, begin to bend to retrieve them when 3, yes 3, different people appear out of nowhere. Pick up my boarding pass and cane!
“Here you go sir”, was all I heard from all 3. Really made the day for me.

[NNadir]

22. That's wonderful!

[elleng]

28. Nice, Nice, Nice!!!

[redqueen]

23. You probably just looked like you were hurting

Pain can be more or less common among people of various age groups but however they knew I'm glad you caught some breaks tonight

[elleng]

26. Thanks for the kindness of strangers!

Strangers ALWAYS ask if I need help getting groceries to my car (while I'm moving along with cart containing groceries!)

[Aussie105]

27. My cynical thought for today:

People are nice to old and decrepit humans like me because they don't want to be near me when I snuff it.
Which could be any moment . . .

It would make their younger lives more difficult at that moment - questions will be asked - and reminds them they are not immortal, and no one wants either of those things.

/Old, grumpy and cynical. And proud of it!

[OldBaldy1701E]

33. Yep. I am the same way.

I figured I must look literally decrepit these days. People ether reach to help me or run like hell from me. I was never a sprinter, but I used to land survey and walk miles and miles each day. No more. Now, I am lucky if I don't get faint and unstable walking around the block.

[moniss]

36. Many days it's

a challenge for me to get from the couch to the kitchen.

[OldBaldy1701E]

40. I have had a few of those as well.

It sucks, that is for sure.

[moniss]

35. I can't travel by air, bus or train very well

any longer. I have such bad arthritic knees that I have to be able to kick a leg out for a few minutes. That lasts for maybe two or three minute and then I've got to shift around some more. Up and down, side to side, flexing and straightening almost like a fidgeting kid. I had to turn down jury duty because I can't sit still. I'll be disruptive to the proceedings. The narrow seats and spaces are no good for me. Thankfully you ran across nice people.

[GoneOffShore]

38. We haven't flown in over a year & are avoiding it. Our next trip to the UK will be via train.

Though SNCF and Eurostar have their own problems, particularly since bloody Brexshit.

[MuseRider]

39. Those kinds of incidents

can wreck you for a while. I am at the eye doc and the women here call me sweetie and say things like aren't you cute. I just turned 70 and I guess that means something.

[UpInArms]

41. The reflection in the mirror

Seems a little off

… you look radiant, my friend