Who will live the longest?

As I walked out onto my porch this morning, with my coffee in hand, I was greeted by some heavy fog. But within 30 minutes the sun started breaking through. For the last several days it has been overcast and rainy and when that happens I feel a little gloomy. But when the sun comes through I can start my day feeling fresh and ready for my next adventure. Back when I was working nine to five six days of the week) I started the day by using a structured discipline I usually followed every morning.  I retired a few years ago and no longer have to get up to go to work. In the beginning of my retirement I felt a little guilty about not going to work. Like most men and women of my generation I’ve had a job since I was 10 years old. When I was 10 years old I got up early in the morning to deliver the newspaper. I would get on my bicycle and go to the local newspaper distribution shed. There I was met by a manager who gave me the appropriate amount of newspapers to deliver. In those days they also gave me something that looked like saddlebags for people. If you did not have a bicycle to carry the bag on, you put it on yourself, something like a poncho. On the days that it was icy and snowy my father would get up with me and help me deliver the papers. Since then, usually after the school day, I had some sort of a job. So in the beginning of my retirement I felt very guilty about not going to work. One part of it was the loss of funds, my retirement does not provide me with the same amount of money that I had when I was working. But it’s more than that. It is the actual routine and discipline of getting up and going to work. You would think that once you retired, you would sleep until 11 or noon. But you don’t, you get up early in the morning just like you used to. The difference is you do not have the same routine or discipline. After a few years I started to develop one, only to find comfort in using the routine that I had when I worked. For me, I start every day by making a cup of coffee and then having something to eat along with it. Instead of the weekend being the break in the routine for me, I now go on trips. This last week I went to Shreveport Louisiana to a casino. My wife had just got back from California and so, after picking her up at the airport, we decided to go and do a little gambling.

We arrived at the casino just as a concert was letting out. As we got out of our car and went to the elevator we noticed that as each elevator door opened it, was full of people headed the other way. The first thing I noticed was the age of the people (they were somewhere in the 30s and 40s). It wasn’t like there were a lot of young teenagers, all giddy and excited about seeing an artist or band. This crowd seemed to be more mellow and they were headed home for some rest. The band playing at the concert had its heyday in the 1980s. But like most rock ‘n roll bands it seemed like they were in their 70s and still playing at concerts. It always amazes me how artist and singers from the 1960s 70s and 80s are still out there in concert. I still do not understand how the members of the Rolling Stones are still above ground.

As I started to play in the casino I again looked around and noticed that most of people there were over the age of 50. There were a few of the players who seemed to be younger and I think only one or two looked like they were in their 20s. There were definitely more women gambling at the slot machines and more men gambling at the craps table. There seem to be a good mix on the card playing tables, with people from all age groups playing.

During that night I sat next to a woman who I’m guessing was in her 80s. She had very thin white hair that was cut fairly short. Her skin was very white and her stature was bent over a little bit. She wore her very bright red lipstick while being very intent on playing the slot machine. While sitting next to her I watched her win the small jackpot of over $1000. After congratulating her on her win she went on to explain how she was not getting very much of it because of “those taxes”. She went on to tell me that she had won two jackpots Saturday and that most of it was probably going to go to paying taxes. She looked at me with some concern and stated, “why would they take an old widows taxes like that?” For the next 10 minutes or so she went on to tell me about how tough life was for a widow. During the conversation, the one-way conversation, she let me know that her husband died several years ago and left her with a lot of money. She believed that the government was trying to take it all away from her and “what was a poor old widow to do”? During the conversation I noticed that she was wearing what appeared to be some expensive clothing and a designer handbag. While she was gambling she did not seem to worry about the amount of money being gambled on each play of the machine.

During the rest of my stay at the casino I noticed a lot of elderly women (70 years plus) who were playing at the machines. The staff, working at the casino, seemed to know most of them by their first name. Most of the women were smokers. This brings me to the title of the blog for the day. Of men and women, who will live longer? I know that when I went to a retirement seminar, I was told that my generation of men would likely live to be about 75 years old. That same seminar told the women in the audience that they would likely live to be 85 years old.

During my time as a detective, both in California and in Texas, I would do a lot of speaking to different groups. Things like how to protect your house and your car from being broken into or inform the audience of some of the scams going on during that time. What I noticed when going into retirement homes was that there seemed to be a ratio of about 10 to 1, of women to men.

That’s not to say that men do not live a long and healthy life, look at Frank in Sacramento. He is in his 90s and is active and looking good. But I think he is the exception to the rule and that in the United States of America, women are more likely to outlive men.

There’s another issue that comes to light when one of the partners of the marriage pass on. Is that should surviving spouses go on to meet someone else or do they stay widowed for the rest of their life.

Are men more likely to remarry or find someone else more so than women? I’m not sure about the answer on this one, but I think men are more likely to try and find someone. I’m not sure what the reason is for that, but in my world it is seems like a man is more likely to move on to another partner.

My thoughts on who will live the longest; is that women will live longer. However I hope to be one of the exceptions to that rule. I hope to be more like Frank in Sacramento California. I hope to remain busy for the rest of my life, going from one adventure to another.

Pops