Friends of ours must spend considerable time looking for jokes and cartoons, inspirational thoughts, health tips, and other worthy bits of information that via the share button zoom into our home.
I have no idea where they find all this sharable material but much of it makes the rounds through our friends and friends of friends and cousins of friends and strangers who also have friends.
We are thankful our e-mail address has been included among the numerous other folks who also receive the same message. We are at least on the radar of friends and acquaintances, even if there is no personal connection to this correspondence.
When I was a novice at this form of communication, I was disgruntled that there was no attachment, no “hello, thinking of you” as a preface to whatever bit of humour or dry wit was coming our way. Then I read, via the same type of sharing, that being included in mass mailings was a tribute not to be taken lightly or dismissed as being insensitive.
One of the latest missives to arrive was one of an educational variety, a muse designed to help someone of our age cope with the boring periods of life that seniors endure in the process of aging.
According to someone’s research, there is no need for seniors to be bored by their lives, and if they are bored, most of them (us) have the capability to stop being that way.
I learned that reading, resting and watching television are the three main ways seniors spend their time. Retired seniors spend twice as much time relaxing and thinking as compared to the younger population. That’s not surprising considering we have more spare time than someone still in the workforce. The only schedule some seniors keep is the television schedule, supplemented with time for medical appointments and haircuts. One day rolls into the other and some mornings it takes awhile to figure out if it is Saturday, Tuesday or Sunday.
So to relieve this boredom, seniors are advised to: explore the world through the world wide web; entice friends or strangers to play board games; write real letters to friends and relatives; call someone on the telephone and have a conversation; tinker with a motor or something mechanical; learn something new such as knitting, golf or lawn bowling; feed the birds; plant a garden; volunteer in the community; go on a bus tour; or failing all those suggestions, simply go back to work.
Over the years of our semi-retirement, we have done some of those things — some successfully like writing letters and phoning, or feeding the birds and volunteering. Tinkering with motors and mechanical things has never been something we’ve ever considered as our boredom-fighting solution. That kind of tinkering is simply too dangerous and not very rewarding.
But just this past week we relieved our afternoon boredom by visiting Tristian’s Treats at 259 High St. W., a new Moose Jaw business, one that definitely appealed to our sweet tooth (teeth). We were welcomed as soon as we walked in the door and stood there staring at the shelves of treats that immediately took us back to our childhoods.
While I ogled the treats, Housemate wandered into another room to view the die cast cars, Lego selections and other items that would fall into the collectibles category of taking on a new project.
I saw sugar-free items, was advised that the owners are bringing in supplies of sugar-free cake mixes and other items that will still be tasty treats but won’t contribute to the ailing health of any customer.
I didn’t immediately see them so asked: “Do you carry the old time Lifesavers?”
“Yes, right over here,” I was told and hurried to check out the varieties. I spied a lone roll of butter rum Lifesaver, the very favourite of all time, and one our nephew often brought us from a candy store in Alberta. It is obviously a favourite of other shoppers.
I was in candy heaven as was Housemate as he piled his selections on the counter, and later that day dropped a few Rock Pops into his beverage of choice.
So the next time I’m bored, I might be found at Tristian’s Treats, checking out the jawbreakers and cream-filled cupcakes and of course, hoping there’s a butter rum Lifesaver on the shelf.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
