When You Were My Age

It was 1987.  Where were you then?  In a beautiful home in Florida.  Not too big, yet certainly not small.  Very comfortable in it's period details which you were careful to preserve.

You were happy, mostly.  Yes, you were discovering that Florida was not where you wanted to be, but that didn't matter so much.  You had a husband willing to sacrifice for you.  To try to make you happy.  You missed Rockport?  No problem, you got to spend summers there.  He drove you back and forth each year.  Yes, he too was happy.

You were retired.  From what?  No career.  You had worked a retail job while your husband was still in college, another for 'fun money' later.  After I left home for college, yet another job for extra spending money.  Never was it necessary that you work.  He provided as you both expected that he would.  When he retired, so did you.  You were 49 when that happened as you were ten years younger than him!

When you were my age you had a 5 year old grand-daughter.  Not the girl-y girl that you had dreamed of, but at least you could buy her dresses!  No dolls, though...a stuffed animal loving child.  Your only child, your daughter, had a home of her own.  Husband and child.  You were free to enjoy her companionship as a friend.

And your friends.  Yes, they were retired, too.  You living in Florida attracted them to visit and they did quite often so that you never felt abandoned or alone.  You enjoyed their company so much.  Just as you enjoyed your family from 'up north' coming to visit you.

Life was pretty good for you...when you were my age.

My life is so different at the age you were when you were my age.