# Feeling old



## orchid527 (Feb 24, 2021)

I suspect we all have moments when we fully grasp that we are old. Most of the time it is because of the new slang or technology, but today, while looking at some old photos, it hit me like a hammer. This is a photo from around 1910 of a family gathering of my great grandparents and their siblings and cousins. They are standing in front of a steam threshing machine at one of their farms. After looking at the faces and names on the back of the photos, I realized that I personally knew 5 of these people and that 2 of them were already adults in this photo. Mike


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## Happypaphy7 (Feb 24, 2021)

Thanks for sharing this, Mike. It is funny how I so longed to become an adult when I was a kid. Now that I am an adult, I wish I was a kid again. When my father died of cancer two years ago (and a few others in my families on both sides, but he was the only one that I was there next to him until the very last moment), it really hit me hard. Getting old, life, and the unknowns. It is a strange complex feeling. I don't know how to quite deal with it other than trying not to think about it too much.


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## abax (Feb 24, 2021)

The feeling has been creeping up on me for a couple of years. One learns to live with the knowledge of mortality. Sometimes
I think it might be a relief when one gets weary of the struggle to live an ethical life at this time in our evolutionary development.


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## NYEric (Feb 25, 2021)

All of you feeling 'old' are welcome to send me your plants to perpetuate your memory. Thank you.


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## monocotman (Feb 25, 2021)

Eric, 
you are so kind!
thanks for thinking of those of us in this situation.
l‘ve just retired and lost both parents in the past two years.
It changes your outlook fundamentally with the knowledge that ‘it’s your turn next’.

David


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## Ray (Feb 26, 2021)

Hah!

You know you're old when you wake up and find you've gotten a "sleeping injury"!


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## richgarrison (Feb 26, 2021)

Ray said:


> Hah!
> 
> You know you're old when you wake up and find you've gotten a "sleeping injury"!



That's freakin' hilarious....


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## NYEric (Feb 26, 2021)

monocotman said:


> It changes your outlook fundamentally with the knowledge that ‘it’s your turn next’.
> David


I lost my sister years ago and my Dad a couple of years ago. They both had full lives, in their own ways. Live life and enjoy, you never know when you will get called. I will send you my address, put my name on the tags and don't worry about the postage fees.


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## orchid527 (Feb 26, 2021)

David

Do you have any plants colonized by pesticide resistant thrips? Looks like a great time to get rid of them. Mike


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## Ray (Feb 26, 2021)

richgarrison said:


> That's freakin' hilarious....


Not if you're the one with the injury.


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## Sherry H (Feb 27, 2021)

I was not supposed to live at thirty due to serious illness - several bouts of some illness over the years (73 now). Makes u life pretty fearless when u face mortality at 30! I am so amazed to still be here and with my new lady slipper collection (94)

will offer them all for sale very reasonably to u guys when the time is right !! Leave instructions for executor too!

we are moving my collection north to our summer home in Nc soon .


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## Sherry H (Feb 27, 2021)

Ps mature orange cliva plant $15 each with free shipping. About 4 or 


five in each pot


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## Sherry H (Feb 27, 2021)

Bare root shipping


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## Sherry H (Feb 27, 2021)

OBO lol


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## Phred (Feb 27, 2021)

Ray said:


> Hah!
> 
> You know you're old when you wake up and find you've gotten a "sleeping injury"!


Happens to me all the time. My wife puts her feet on my side, her knees on my side and her elbows on my side... all the good stuff she keeps on her side.


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## richgarrison (Feb 27, 2021)

Ray said:


> Not if you're the one with the injury.



i was thinking that might be your comeback when i typed it... but i have to admit that taking my aches and pains lately with a laugh has been helpful.... ;-)


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## Berthold (Feb 28, 2021)

abax said:


> Sometimes I think it might be a relief when one gets weary of the struggle to live an ethical life at this time in our evolutionary development.


An interesting thought, but I also think that the permanent demand for political and gender justice can drive people to their deaths.
I prefer a quiet life in the orchid culture and without contention with other people.


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## richgarrison (Feb 28, 2021)

Hi 5! To that....


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## NYEric (Mar 1, 2021)

that translates to 'Hermitism'!


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## NYEric (Mar 1, 2021)

Sherry H said:


> my new lady slipper collection (94)
> 
> will offer them all for sale very reasonably to u guys when the time is right !! Leave instructions for executor too!
> 
> View attachment 25845


Many years from now, God willing. Put me on the list, but you can keep these weird things!


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## Ozpaph (Mar 1, 2021)

Thats a fabulous photo and a wonderful reminder of times past. Our 'origins' are an important part of who we are.


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## Ozpaph (Mar 1, 2021)

Phred said:


> Happens to me all the time. My wife puts her feet on my side, her knees on my side and her elbows on my side... all the good stuff she keeps on her side.



I get "the hand of God" (Maradona soccer reference) - ie a mid sleep, accidental (she says), backhander as my wife flails around with the bed covers!


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## masaccio (Mar 1, 2021)

Ozpaph said:


> Thats a fabulous photo and a wonderful reminder of times past. Our 'origins' are an important part of who we are.


So important. In aging, I notice that I'm fully engaged in the process of retrieving those valuable bits that passed away naturally as I was growing into my own. Things and moments that thrilled me then still thrill me now, but completely renewed. Aging has definite and concrete riches and compensations. But boundaries being what they are, how advisable is it to buy a flask of philippInense or sanderianum, or anything? It 's the last opportunity for grace and acceptance of the gift of life. To everything there is a season. Oh, and sleep injuries are definitely real!


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## orchid527 (Mar 1, 2021)

I have several flasks of my own creation that I made last year using my awarded plants, including a multiflora. They are barely more than protocorms. So, 72 years old + 10 years to see several bloom + 8 years to get some size on the plants for shows. I don't see any problems here. I think it is supposed to be this way. I do acknowledge the onslaught of time and have given up mountain climbing and motorcycles, well, maybe not the mountain climbing. Mike


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## masaccio (Mar 1, 2021)

orchid527 said:


> I have several flasks of my own creation that I made last year using my awarded plants, including a multiflora. They are barely more than protocorms. So, 72 years old + 10 years to see several bloom + 8 years to get some size on the plants for shows. I don't see any problems here. I think it is supposed to be this way. I do acknowledge the onslaught of time and have given up mountain climbing and motorcycles, well, maybe not the mountain climbing. Mike


   I'll see you in 18 years. Can't wait.


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## cpmaniac (Mar 1, 2021)

Well, as I'm aging, I'm meeting lots of new people. A podiatrist, ophthalmologist, and two urologists...what larks!

Seriously, I should give some thoughts to the fate of my plants, when I leave the planet. My father had a very nice collection of orchids. He died young, and my mother cared for them for a while, but slowly lost interest. By the time I was able to get involved, nearly all had perished. A good friend did have divisions of a couple of Dad's favorites, and I'm still caring for them now, some 50 years later. Sure wish more had survived...


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## h_mossy (Mar 2, 2021)

Began to feel old when my g-kids went to college.


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## Sherry H (Mar 2, 2021)

Cattleya s lol


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## NYEric (Mar 4, 2021)

masaccio said:


> I'll see you in 18 years. Can't wait.


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## NYEric (Mar 4, 2021)

Sherry H said:


> Cattleya s lol


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