by Archie Brown

Created on: April 22, 2008

On reaching 80

Mickey opened the mail on his birthday. It was no surprise to find several cards from friends and relatives. A card from his former mother in law said that they were holding a party for him on the following Sunday.
Mickey was not that excited at the prospect of being honored in this way, secretly he wished that everyone would ignore it. The fact was Mickey hated to reach this milestone. He still felt mentally as a young man but the reality was his body had kept pace with the years and he was in a panic mode.

How does one cope with finding oneself at an age where most people end up with a paragraph in the obituary column. Mickey's parents had died at 83 and 94 and he wondered if he would fall somewhere in between or maybe add a few more years.
One reality that kept him up during the night was how would he finance his old age when he could no longer work. He had a part time job which could go on for as long as his health held up. Where would he go from there?

Despite all the misgivings, Mickey had embarked on a new journey for him. Since his wife had died over a year before he was lonely and sad with nothing to look forward to. His laptop computer was one way he could view the world and not feel so lost. The Internet was full of information and he could reach across the world and communicate with anyone. He could contact his children who lived in New Zealand and many old friends in South Africa, Australia and England. Another avenue opened up when he accessed a website offering communication with women of his own age. The dating service came up with several ladies in his area who were deemed compatible. He had entered his own profile and photos and had received some favorable responses. Many of the hopeful contacts lived in other states or many miles away from his home. However he did find a lady fairly close by. A meeting was arranged and he made a date with "Sparkling Eyes" , the name that she had used in her profile. Sparkling turned out to be Joyce, a 74 old widow. They spent an afternoon together at Santa Barbara and got to know each other fairly well. As he got to know Joyce he learned that she had a few physical problems. Without going into details Mickey figured out that he did not want to deal with such a situation. He had already looked after his last wife and could not go through a similar trauma.

Since dating Joyce who he now wished to leave as delicately as possible, Mickey had corresponded to a new lady who lived within a few miles of his

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