Octogenarians Are Gamers

by Lois Jamieson

I love baseball. Last week I was watching my favorite team the Arizona Diamondbacks. They were playing the Chicago White Sox. During the game the White Sox pitcher was hit on the noggin by a batted ball. The pitcher fell down and then immediately got up laughing.The next day I read that the Diamondback’s manager called him a “Gamer.”

That got me thinking that we Octogenarians are all “Gamers.”

We have lived through the Great Depression. We have lived through four wars. We have lost parents, children, grandchildren and spouses. We have birthed babies. We have worked long hours, sometimes, for little pay. We have watched our fortunes grow and then dwindle to practically nothing.

We have been crippled from polio, and suffered through influenza epidemics. We have had teeth pulled without anesthetics. We rode,with our parents, in a model T Ford with no seat belts. We have bumped up and down in rumble seats. We had no air conditioning, kept our food in an ‘ice box’, and chased the ice truck down the road. We have ridden rickety old Ferris Wheels that were never inspected. We played kick-the-can in the street and lost fingers lighting firecrackers. And, yes, some of us got hit on the head by a baseball.

All this and more, and like the White Sox pitcher, we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, laughed and went on with life.

Indeed, Octogenarians are “Gamers.”