What We Should Learn from Older Americans: The Story of an Immigrant
'21.01.2021'
Source: Yandex Zen
Older Americans are full of plans and life, open to new things and enjoy traveling. Stories about people from the United States, whose life is in full swing despite their age, tells the author of the blog "The World Through Helen's Eyes" on Yandex Zen.
You may have heard that one of the possible legal ways to obtain a residence permit in the United States and move here to live is the green card lottery (this is the very same residence permit). The reason for writing this article is precisely this lottery, but I still will not talk about it.
This year my husband and I decided to fill out a questionnaire to participate in this lottery for our parents. In response, we heard from them that they are already very old in order to move somewhere and change something in life. But they are not yet 60! And my mother tells me that she is already old, the last ten or fifteen years. In this regard, I decided to share three stories from the lives of those American elderly people with whom I had the good fortune to talk here recently and who greatly surprised me with their attitude towards life. I call everyone only by name, because in America no one calls anyone by their patronymic, here even an elderly person is always addressed simply by name. As a last resort, by name with a mention of the title / position: Professor Mosby or Professor Geller.
First story: Sharon, 76 years old
Sharon surprised me when we first met. But first things first.
In March 2019, I signed up for an English class for foreigners. These classes took place in a remote part of the city, I did not have a car and a driver's license, public transport does not go there, and my husband was working at that time and could not take me to these classes, so I requested a transfer. In these classes there were volunteers who were just engaged in the delivery of students: before class they picked me up somewhere, and then they took me home.
A couple of days before the first class, Sharon's contacts were thrown off me, and before class she called me to clarify where to pick me up. Panic - I need to pick up the phone and somehow explain it! I picked up the phone, at the other end there was a clearly middle-aged voice, with prejudice I looked forward to a long explanation and misunderstanding. And I really tried to explain something for about five minutes in my broken English. Suddenly Sharon says to me: "Throw me the geotag, and I'll drive up." I agree, hang up, and an even greater panic overcomes me. I have a new phone, and I have never given these geotags to anyone. Fortunately, I did it.
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But, as I said, Sharon's voice was clearly not young, and I was tormented by doubts whether she would deal with what I had thrown off her. Imagine my surprise when, after the agreed 10 minutes, Sharon came to pick me up at the indicated place. Not only can this aunt know how to send SMS and drive a car, but she also knows how to use Google-maps! To say that I was surprised is to say nothing. It's hard to imagine that my grandmother could do this. How great it would be now to get into the car with her and drive around Russia, or at least just walk around St. Petersburg together. But I got a little distracted ...
My excitement with Sharon did not end there. One day we are going to class with her, and she says: "Next week Megan will give you a lift, and my friends and I fly to Florida for shelling." These gray-haired grannies fly to Florida to walk along the beach and collect shells! You understand - shells! I would be so active and sane at 76.
Story two: Larry, 87
Larry keeps a "hotel" of several forest houses and rents them on the site AirBNB. FROMHaving discovered one such house a month ago in California, we met Larry. Larry has a wife, a 50-year-old Filipina, and a 7-year-old son! And Larry is 87 years old, by the way. This is not a joke or an exaggeration ...
Uncle without education, but somehow it so happened that he has a huge piece of land in the forests of California, from which, in good weather, you can see a piece of Half Dome Mountain! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the nerve to ask how this is all possible, and we didn’t talk much so that Larry himself would accidentally tell where he worked to save up for such a plot, but still ... I think if we lived there longer , we would have learned a lot more interesting things!
Story Three: Tommy, 83
Probably the brightest character of the three. I would not call him an old man, he has such a clear mind and a positive outlook on the world. Four years ago, he married for the third time (his wife is 20 years younger than him), bought a new house with his young wife, moved there and now rents the lower floor of his house to Airbnb. So we met when we came to live with them this summer. Tommy calls himself “ordinary Billy from the hill” (HillBilly - “redneck”), although I would argue with that.
During his long life, Tommy changed three wives and several jobs. He managed to become a local businessman, and then sold his business, while the network of local geodesy (land surveying) agencies still bears his name. And all this without a university education!
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Tommy has traveled all over the country, and on the walls in his house there are printed photographs of him. Very cool! I haven't even been to many of those places yet. And this year, Tommy was very upset that it was not possible to fly with his wife to Hawaii due to the coronavirus and celebrate the fourth wedding anniversary there. But he hopes to do it next year (5 years after all, and the wedding took place there, so next year it is a must).
Oh, yes ... Often on weekends, Tommy's great-grandchildren come to visit Tommy for a few days, and Tommy babysits them. Everyone would have such energy and strength at his age! When my husband and I remember Tommy and his wife, we say “guys” about them and nothing else: “Do you remember the guys in North Carolina had a picture on the wall?”, “I also want such a balcony overlooking the forest, like the guys in Franklin. "
Summing up
These are the stories. Do you still think that you are very old? And Americans, even at such an advanced age, lead an active life, while all these people, of course, actively use the Internet and the telephone, not to mention the fact that they drive a car. And at 50-60 years old, the norm for Americans is to go to study and master a new profession. Or they go, for example, to the mountains for hiking (hiking) and overtake me on the slope, there are such people too.
Why does this surprise me so much? Because everything is not so rosy in Russia.
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In Russia, I rarely had the opportunity to communicate with elderly people, with the exception of my grandparents and a few old people, whom I dropped in when I took part in the population census back in 2010. And any such communication caused pity and resentment for their hard life. There was always a feeling that Russian old people no longer live, but are living out. Old grandmothers and grandfathers in Russia are not particularly found in bars and restaurants, and even more so on beaches. Often they cannot afford to buy even normal food and medicine, I feel sorry for them.
And in the USA I communicate with people of age, and on an equal footing! They lead an active life, something is constantly happening to them: new impressions, new people, new places ... Of course, the life of the Americans is easier and more stable, because since the Civil War and the Great Depression there have been no major shocks here. But there is something that is definitely worth learning from them - to look positively at things, make plans, try new things ... It is clear that people all over the world live in different ways, and the United States is no exception. And the way those about whom I told you today live, probably not every elderly American lives. But these people really inspire me and give me hope that it is possible to live like this!
In short, I look at these Americans and think that at their age I want to live just as well, I also want to be as active and cheerful in spirit, which is what I wish for you!
Original column published on the blog. “The World Through Helene's Eyes” on Yandex Zen
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