I find this season of my life very interesting, and I have observed a pattern among my friends: the six phases of senior adulthood.

Phase 1—Senior Adult Discounts: This phase occurs when we start telling our friends where to find senior discounts. We become almost giddy when we learn that most Goodwill stores give us between 15-25 percent off on Tuesdays. The 10 percent discounts at Waffle House, Arby’s and Burger King are our staples. Did you know you can get up to 20 percent off at Jack in the Box? Yes, you can find a covey of senior adults flocking to any one of these locations on the appropriate day at the appropriate time.

Phase 2—Reruns: The next level of senior adulthood is watching your favorite TV shows from the past. You start out with old color TV shows such as “M.A.S.H.,” “Happy Days” or “The Carol Burnett Show.” Later, you shift to black-and-white programming: “Gunsmoke,” “Perry Mason” or “I Love Lucy.” This is also the stage of life where you quit watching the Oscars because you don’t recognize any actors or movies receiving awards.

Phase 3—Birdwatching: This phase caught me off-guard. Many of my friends own bird feeders, and I swore I would never go down that lane. Then my wife gave me a bird feeder for Christmas, and I had to set it up. Now I find myself sitting by our picture window every morning, counting what types and how many birds are feeding and yelling at the squirrels.

Phase 4—Obituary Watching: When we gather at our local senior discount eatery, someone always asks, “Did you see in the paper that so-and-so has passed away?” At this stage of life, we all nod our heads; while drinking our first cup of coffee, we check to see how many friends we have left. Then the conversation turns to the time of the visitation, the funeral preacher and who is going.

Phase 5—Labeling Everything: My wife has started taking pictures of our so-called valuables and writing down where we got each item and why it means so much to us. I hear as we get older, we will put names on these items to indicate which person gets what when we pass away. This may be a knee-jerk reaction to our parents’ passing; they left behind a whole household of stuff that we had no clue about what it was or where they got it.

Phase 6—Jesus Versus Your Family: I can see this phase coming into my life soon, but I am not sure I am there yet. This is when you would rather have Jesus come to see you than your family. You have loved Jesus, served Him and know that He has gone to prepare a place for you. You know that He is coming to make you whole and complete.  And your favorite verse in the Bible in Revelation 22:20b, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

 

Photo by David Kanigan on Unsplash