WRITTEN BY RICHARD SHAW
Solitary living has been my destiny for 50 years. At this stage of life (full disclosure: I was born in 1952), I cannot imagine having a housemate to change my day. Well, a cat or parakeet might possibly help warm Maine’s cold winter nights.
I have learned that life alone as a retired septuagenarian doesn’t have to be lonely. Keeping healthy and active and getting out of the house help keep me busy and happy. Also, helping the less fortunate, such as visiting a friend in a nursing facility, does wonders for my self-esteem.
Coming home to a warm, brightly lit environment, rather than a dark, unwelcoming dungeon, is comforting. I have even been known to have prerecorded music playing when I walk through the door.
Here are some further tips to help maintain your sanity as a single senior. These work for me.
Get Into A Daily Routine
Call it busywork or falling into a rut, but it is important to have something familiar to do every morning. My day normally begins with a drive-through stop up the road for hot tea and a pastry. While that is digesting, I check the Bangor Daily News for yard sales, obituaries, and a chuckle to start the day — popular topics for a man of my age. Then I hike around a nearby cemetery to get my heart pumping. Friends often join me on my walks.
I return home for a day of news programs and game shows. Yard work and telephone chats with a favorite cousin round out my routine.
Satisfy Your Taste Buds
I have driven an hour south to Waterville just to dine at an affordable Indian restaurant. Its chef goes light on the curry, just the way I like it, and the staff treats me like the unmarried family they probably never had.
Bangor also features two similar downtown ethnic eateries. It is amazing how dreaming of visiting a particular dining spot, such as a seasonal fried clam and lobster shack in Bucksport, can sustain me for days. Good old American meals are also served at many places, often with luncheon specials. Fast-food chains serve grub that is cheap and tasty, but watch the calories.
Indulge Your Hobbies
Anyone who has visited my home knows that collecting is my passion. I own antique picture postcards, restaurant menus, classic rock albums, and even fortune cookie messages.
Other hobbies include meeting book-fair authors and visiting parades and agricultural fairs, including those in Windsor and Blue Hill. I also maintain family burial plots in Corinth and Milo and look for unusual epitaphs. I’m still searching for one that states, “I told you I was sick!”
I hope to someday photograph every Maine community. Matinicus Island, in Penobscot Bay, and Estcourt Station, within the Big Twenty Township, up north, are beckoning. They have a combined population of 57.
Look For Life’s Freebies
To say that most people over age 70 are living on fixed incomes wouldn’t be too far off the mark. Many of us sniff out senior discounts and feel that we have earned the right to a free cup of coffee or discounted hamburger.
One week last August, I enjoyed free community band concerts in Bangor, Brewer, Bucksport, and Castine, in addition to library, church, AARP, and museum events.
And while they’re not free ($10 is the average price), bean suppers are great places for single people to make friends. The best things in life often are free, so take advantage of the complimentary wall calendars put out during the holiday season.