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glenda_al

Have you ever had a birthday that you dreaded?

glenda_al
10 years ago

Birthday's never bothered me. Never 35, 50, 65, but when the big 70 was fast approaching, 4 years ago, it really bothered me.

Was worried about the future, health wise! How I living alone would handle it, etc.

Also a big trip with a group I had only met once, and wondered if I would fit in.

Teary, to the point doctor wanted to put me on an anti depressant, but I said I'd wait until I got back from my trip.

70 passed, my trip went well, and no meds.

Think I made it over that big 70 hump just fine.

Any birthdays ever bothered you?

Comments (40)

  • kittywhiskers
    10 years ago

    Glenda, I will turn 60 in Nov. and I am really dreading. None of my other birthdays bothered me it was just a number, but 60 is different for some reason.
    Kittywhiskers

  • gloriam
    10 years ago

    I turned 70 in April and I really feel good about it. I don't feel
    any difference then I was at 60. Its just a number folks, don't let it get to you. Lovin 70.

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    10 years ago

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  • glenda_al
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I made it past the 70th , but it was a combination of things that caused the anxiety. Got over it, passed it.

    I'm not a worrier, but 70 just hit me :o)

  • LuAnn_in_PA
    10 years ago

    No way!

    Every time I celebrate a birthday it means I am still alive, and that's a good thing, not something to dread.

  • glenda_al
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Maybe I should rephrase, instead of dreaded, maybe NOT a birthday to look forward to.

    My 74th is coming up, and no problem :o) I'm a happy camper.

    70 was just one that bothered me!

  • YogaLady1948
    10 years ago

    I am turning 65 in October~~~the number means nothing to me~~it is all of the mail from insurance companies wanting to insure me~~~we have insurance through my DH retirement program and the medicare part is all handle easily with them~~~but daily I may get 1-2 ads for insurance. Just keeps on reminding me I am going to be 65!

    My 4 year old DGD wanted me to do something with her and I said I was old and could not do it (really I was just lazy)~~~she said grandma you need to quit being old and strat getting young again!! So in October will be my getting young again start;)

  • Chi
    10 years ago

    I turned 30 this year and it was very rough on me. I dreaded it since my late 20's and I spent the day alone and depressed. I no longer feel like a young adult and I had always thought I would be married with kids by now, so my life feels a little empty.

    Luckily, two weeks after I turned 30, I met my current boyfriend who I believe will soon be my husband, and we just bought a house this week. Things are looking up and now I feel I have the maturity to handle it. :)

  • joan_mn
    10 years ago

    30 really bothered me, for whatever reason. But 40, 50, 60 not at all. Maybe because my life has been so wonderful since I met my husband.
    65 next month...another milestone!

  • glenda_al
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    My friend's husband just celebrated his 90th birthday, recently. Living his life to his fullest and enjoying every moment.

  • carol_in_california
    10 years ago

    The only one that bothered me was when I turned 31.
    I will 74 in February and am looking forward to celebrating at least two weeks.
    Glenda, you and Jake share a birthday. He will be seven.

  • carol_in_california
    10 years ago

    The only one that bothered me was when I turned 31.
    I will 74 in February and am looking forward to celebrating at least two weeks.
    Glenda, you and Jake share a birthday. He will be seven.

  • drewsmaga
    10 years ago

    I have never dreaded a birthday. I look forward to them as another celebration. I'm 63 and wanting to be 64, 65, 70, etc. I want to be 80 to see my youngest (for now) grandchild graduate high school. I've lived too many people dying too young. My mother died @ 38 (I was 8.) I had 3 baby boys die in infancy, My terrific sister-in-law died at 30 (with a 2 year old girl.) My dear friends died @ 45 and 47, one leaving 2 very young kids; the other leaving 4 underage kids. My sister died @ 48. . . etc., I WANT to be 70, 80. . . .And I will CELEBRATE!

  • sheilajoyce_gw
    10 years ago

    Nope, none I dreaded, but I do remember being a little surprised that I had turned 70 since neither of my parents made that age. All my siblings are in our 70s now, and we all make that comment. There was a little unhappiness that I was 70! Sounded so old.

  • Lindsey_CA
    10 years ago

    I had been eagerly looking forward to my 21st birthday (waaay back in 1970). My mother's birthday is the day after mine, and we'd always had a dual celebration. But, less than two weeks before our birthdays, my mother died. So, my 21st birthday was not a happy one.

    And I didn't exactly dread my 54th birthday, but it was a very weird one for me, because my mother was just shy of her 54th birthday when she died. So, it was weird for me to absorb the fact that I was older than my mother had ever been.

    A month and three days after my mother died my father died, and that was a month and two days before he would have turned 57. So, again, I felt weird when I was 57 that I was older than my father had ever been.

    And now, in less than two weeks, I will turn 64.

  • Georgysmom
    10 years ago

    The only one that ever bothered me was turning 20. No longer a teenager. LOL That was 56 years ago! Not bothered anymore.

  • mawheel
    10 years ago

    I turned 80 in 2012 and it was fine; this year, this month in fact, I turned 81, and for some reason it bothered me! Not a lot, but guess I realized there's no turning back at this point. I wouldn't want to, anyway; I'm fairly healthy, active, and have relatives and friends that I love and cherish. That's enough.

  • alisande
    10 years ago

    I know what you mean, Glenda. And I know what Drewsmaga means too. When I spoke at my 70th birthday party this year I said my mother had just turned 38 when she died, and I have been grateful for every year I've lived beyond that--so I am not one to whine about another birthday. And then I added, "But 70 sounds so serious!"

    One of my best friends is 84. She says 70 bothered her more than 80. I can't say I'm bothered, exactly, but 70 has made me think. Maybe it wouldn't if I felt better physically. I remember my dad at 70 growing a garden, zipping around in his boat, etc., traveling. I don't have the energy for it, and most of that has nothing to do with my age.

  • lindalou
    10 years ago

    so far, none have bothered me and i will be 67 in january. :)

  • jel48
    10 years ago

    None of mine have bothered me, though it does seem odd to think that in less than two years I'll be 60. Although, I have to say that in his early 60's, I thought of my dad as still a fairly young man. It's just that, in my heart and in my mind, I don't feel that age (my body is another thing altogether :-) . On the other hand, my oldest sister is 71 and it seems really odd to me to think that she is in her 70s.

    The birthday that did bother me a little was my oldest child's 25th birthday. I kept thinking 'a quarter of a century, I have a child that's a quarter of a century old!'. Just seemed so strange!! She's in her mid 30's now, and 25 was the only one that bothered me. Maybe I'll feel the same when she turns 50 and say 'a half a century....'. LOL!

  • chloecat
    10 years ago

    30 almost killed me. It was awful.

    Then, I got cancer. And every birthday after that has just been fantastic, awesome, spectacular, and welcomed!

  • linda_in_iowa
    10 years ago

    None of my birthdays have ever bothered me. Now that I am older, 71, I just give thanks that I am in good health and enjoying life to its fullest. My dad died when he was 60 and being 60 was weird for me but he had an unhealthy lifestyle. My mom lived to be almost 94. I am hoping to still be spry at 89 and see Finn graduate from high school.

  • socks
    10 years ago

    There is no point in dreading birthdays. How you feel and live is more important. You cannot do anything about the number, but you can live the most active, healthy lifestyle possible for you.

  • Jodi_SoCal
    10 years ago

    I dreaded my 50th like none other. Then, my best friend called me a few weeks before and said, wanna go to Paris with me? She and her daughter, me and my daughter, then 18 spent three weeks in an apartment in Paris and another week in London. My 50th birthday fell on the day we traveled from Paris to London so I was in both cities to celebrate. And celebrate I did.

    This year (a little over a week ago actually) was my 60th birthday and I was ready for it with a trip to Texas to see my favorite singer on the day of my birthday in a small, intimate setting on a perfect July night. It was even better than Paris and London believe it or not!

    I survived both and moved on and that's the best part.

    Jodi-

  • susanjf_gw
    10 years ago

    well that same moon I wished on at sweet sixteen is still there at 67....not really a great subject as i'm fasting/ eating jello getting ready for a second colon-op...to do a recheck...

  • glenda_al
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    jodi, I spent my 54th birthday on an African safari. One I will never forget.

    socks, I do live an active, healthy lifestyle, enjoying life, but there was that one time that turning a particular age did bother me.

    And all replies appreciated.

    Interesting.

    My friend's 90 year old husband lost his parents and brothers all in their 60's. His comment at his 90th birthday to everyone, was that he looked forward to celebrating his 100th.

    This post was edited by glenda_al on Wed, Jul 31, 13 at 12:22

  • Lily316
    10 years ago

    My turning 30 was devastating to me. I thought I couldn't be the hipster I was ,and I'd have to stop wearing mini skirts. Well, I kept on wearing them and never started wearing conservative clothes. I'm decades by 30 now and would love to have that as my biggest complaint.

    Getting old isn't for sissies for sure ,and that's why I pound the pavement and go to the gym every day, not to look 30, but to keep the energy up. Four of my best friends are dead, and one is most certainly is going to die before year's end fighting brain cancer, so I keep them in mind if I feel depressed. I can see the little granddaughter of my best friend who died two years ago without even knowing this baby. Sad to me. I have already outlived my dad, but have a couple decades to catch my mother's death.

  • Sue_va
    10 years ago

    I have never dreaded a birthday, knowing that there is always something else coming up that would be fun, exciting and completely unknown yet.

    For the last few years I have told my doctors that "I want to live to be100, but I don't know why, since now I can't half see, can't half hear, can't half walk, and the spinal problem pains are never ending!" Although that is true, I still want to live to be 100 at least. The world now is not the world I was born in, unfortunately, but this world is still worth living in and the future will be also.

    Since I just passed my 89th birthday, I'm well on the way, and I love it when someone says 89, you sure don't look it!

    That is when I think they should be having their eyes examined.

    Whichever birthday you have dreaded, at least be comforted by the fact that getting old means that the first thing to go is memory, so you won't even remember that.

    As the commercial says "GO, and smell the roses."

    Sue

  • kacee2002
    10 years ago

    27...yeah I know it is strange but 27. That was the year my youngest started kindergarten and I knew I would have to go out and do something. I got married when I was 17, had a baby at 18 and had never had a real job. The thought of going out and getting a paying job (not saying SAHM isn't a job) terrified me. So 27 was hard. I know crazy.
    I did get a job with our local school district and it was perfect.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    10 years ago

    Never. Well, not yet. We'll see. My biggest hump has been 45 and none have fazed me. At all. Maybe I'm just oblivious.

    But I will have to say 27 is the year it all changed for me. You're not alone kacee. It was hard.

  • patti43
    10 years ago

    Oh boy, have I. I just hated turning 40. My 30's were the best. Felt good, looked good and I didn't want that to go away. It was probably all in my mind, but my 30's are still the best I ever was.

    In a few months, I turn 70. I have two older sisters who are perfect examples to prove you don't have to look or feel your age. Neither one of them look a day over 60. Guess genes help, too. They watch their weight, keep active and enjoy life. Wish I knew how to post a picture. Great one from the reunion on FB.

  • chisue
    10 years ago

    Thirty was happy for me. We were able to adopt our DS after six years of marriage and surgery that left me unable to conceive.

    This year has been an uneasy one because my mother died at this age -- in October. It was an awful year for her, slowing dying of leukemia, and for me as her only child.

    DH had mixed feelings when he reached the age at which his father had died of a heart attack. Because DH had never been told he was adopted, and because all of his father's brothers also died of strokes, he'd been allowed to assume he would have the same fate. (Another example of his adoptive mother's nature.) Now DH has lived 25 years longer than his father did. And ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead.

  • glenda_al
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    chisue, that's like my friend's 90 year old DH. When he was approaching the ages his parents and brothers all died, he was expecting to go any minute and now he's 90.

  • sjerin
    10 years ago

    Now, this is why I like to read at the KT! Where else could you get so many opinions on such a fascinating subject?? Good question, Glenda. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all the responses, and want to say I'm sorry to those who have lived with much sadness. Especially you, Lindsey. It sounds like you've lived the life of Job.

    I didn't like turning 50, but perhaps 49 was worse. My thirties and forties were too busy with the raising of the kids for me to think about the milestones very much.

    Sue-v, I'll bet you make it to 100 and beyond! You're a lucky duck, Jodi-in....!

  • Jodi_SoCal
    10 years ago

    Patti43, either click on the Image file to upload (optional): Browse... button and upload an the photo of you and your sisters or send it to me and I'll post it here. JodiNewell @ gmail dot com

  • frogged
    10 years ago

    39 stunk, money/job woes were weighing heavy on my mind and was finding it hard to feel good about getting older. Being stuck in place and feeling like I was going backwards instead of moving forward. The number is not the big issue but the BD kind of put a spot light on how I was feeling.

  • kim_okla
    10 years ago

    For me, it's one year closer to retirement. :-)

  • kathi_mdgd
    10 years ago

    My mom died when she was 45 and I was 9.A lot of her siblings died young as well.3 of my 4 brothers never made it out of their 50's.So once I got thru the 50's it was a Halleuia time.

    I was 75 this past march and my oldest sister just made it to 87 this past sunday.So those of us that are left have our dads family genes,and i'm sooooooooo glad

    I think my mom, only got to see 1 of her grandchildren before she passed.

    So far I have gotten to see all 6 of my gk's and watch them grow up and bless us with 4 ggk's,the last ggk was just born the 19th of this month.

    I and my surviving sisters feel so blessed to have gotten to where we are and every day there's a greater blessing.
    Kathi

  • WalnutCreek Zone 7b/8a
    10 years ago

    I'm right there with Kittywhiskers. None of my birthdays ever bothered me, but it hit me one day about a month before my 60th birthday that I was getting older. The hit took me totally by surprise. I still don't know why the 60th was so different for me, it just was is all I know.

  • marilyn_c
    10 years ago

    Noooo, not too much. However, when I turned sixty, for the longest time, every morning when I woke up, I'd think, "Good Lord! I can't believe I am so old!" But, really, I don't think very much about it any more. I am almost 67 now and people tell me I look younger. I try to be active and I try to always look forward to the future. It is depressing sometimes because so many of my friends have died. I remember my mother out lived all of her friends, but she died in her 90's. I still make plans for the future and plan to be here a long time yet. Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Glenda.

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