Well, another one has just rolled up. It seems like only a year since the last one.
I don't feel old, and 63 is probably not considered particularly old these days when many people enjoy a healthy and fulfilling life into their nineties.
However, I realised this morning that I am now older than all my grandparents were when they died. Both my maternal grandparents died in their fifties and my paternal grandmother was only just 60. I never really knew my paternal grandfather but he could not have been very old when he died.
Coming from a tough, working class background they all had hard lives, living through two world wars, the Depression years and struggling to feed and clothe a large brood of children.
I count myself lucky to have been born at a time when I had access to a decent education, leading to reasonably well paid employment for over 40 years, enabling me to save enough to retire at 60 on a small pension.
I am not, and would not aspire to be, rich. I am just thankful that I have been able to enjoy a comfortable life but wish that I could have said the same for my grandparents generation.
I count myself lucky to have been born at a time when I had access to a decent education, leading to reasonably well paid employment for over 40 years, enabling me to save enough to retire at 60 on a small pension.
I am not, and would not aspire to be, rich. I am just thankful that I have been able to enjoy a comfortable life but wish that I could have said the same for my grandparents generation.
A very happy birthday and may you have many more.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I hope so too.
DeleteMany happy returns Jaycee.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteHappy birthday JayCee.
ReplyDeleteThank you Yael
DeleteI do think our generation have been so lucky - NHS, free education, free higher education, plentiful employment etc..
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday JayCee!
xxx
Thank you Vronni. I certainly feel lucky x
DeleteHappy birthday and many returns
ReplyDeleteThank you 😁
DeleteA very inciteful piece, JayCee. It has given me room for thought.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris
DeleteI belong to the same fortunate generation JayCee. Please accept my birthday greetings on this auspicious day. You probably already knew that you were born on the very same day as the great Suzy Bogguss.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr P. I didn't know that about Suzy. She seems to have worn a little better than I have.
DeleteHappy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteHappy, happy birthday!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you x
DeleteHappy 63rd Birthday!
ReplyDeleteI too retired with a pension and consider myself very lucky. Here in the U.S. pensions are becoming a rare benefit. It still seems amazing to me to be at home all month and then get a check in the mail!
I know. It is still rather unreal to me too
DeleteHappy Birthday for yesterday. The 1950s formed a good grounding for austerity management for almost everybody and being thankful for what we had and our parents had plenty of practice from the wartime period before that and it was passed on to us. Not an easy time by any means but certainly one for learning to be grateful for what we had.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rachel. No it was not an easy time for my family financially but everyone around us seemed to be in the same boat. It is quite different these days with more noticeable inequalities amongst the general population.
DeleteThe inequality is in the goals people have today. When I was young everybody from all households, rich or poor, strived for a good education and that was what mattered.
DeleteA belated happy birthday, JayCee, and yes I am in complete agreement with you. We are very lucky baby boomers and I, too, have never aspired to be rich - just wanted enough to live a fairly comfortable life!
ReplyDeletexxx
Thank you Vronni x
Delete