Sailing into Seniority and asking, "What's in a Name?"

Welcome back, folks! Season 2 of Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older is here, and I'm your host, Bill Monty, ready to sprinkle some humor into our conversations about the golden years. As we flip the calendar to February, we not only indulge in Valentine's sweets but also honor the profound contributions of African Americans during Black History Month. I'll share tales of love and legacy that remind us why this month is more than just a page in a calendar. In this season, we're taking your feedback to heart with a lighter touch, so prepare for stories that will tickle your funny bone while delivering the wisdom only life can teach us. 

Navigating the ocean of aging doesn't have to be a solo voyage. That's why we're diving into the treasure chest of resources over at babyboomer.org.

In today's episode, I'll guide you through podcasts like "Tales from South Florida," and of course, this trusty guide, providing you with a compass to steer through topics like financial planning and caregiving. With a crew of over 479 podcasters and contributors, we're building a community that shares in the journey of aging with grace and gusto. So, let's raise the sails and set course for a season filled with camaraderie, insight, and a daily dose of kindness.

Chapters

• 0:00 Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older
• 11:27 Podcasts and Resources for Baby Boomers

Transcript

Bill Monty: 0:00

Information presented in the following program is for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as a statement of fact. Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older, the podcast that explores the art of aging gracefully and unlocking the secrets to a fulfilling life as we journey through the golden years. Join us each episode as we delve into captivating stories, personal insights and practical tips to embrace the aging process with grace, resilience and a dash of humor. Whether you're navigating retirement, seeking health and wellness advice or simply curious about the beauty of growing older, this is your guide to embracing every chapter of life with wisdom and vitality. And now here's your host, Bill Monty. Welcome to Season 2 of Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older. We are back.

Bill Monty: 1:01

For those of you who are with us in Season 1, it's so great to be speaking with you again. And if you are new to the show, you might have a couple of questions about it, like who is the show for? Well, let me get one thing straight it's not about being old. It's about getting older the good, the not as good and the in between. It's about preparing to enter your 50s and 60s and so on. We're here to look at the past to help us understand the present and then prepare for the future. But why a guide for getting older? What a couple are about to become new parents. There are books, there are YouTube videos, there are blogs and vlogs and more that teach them how to do everything how to hold the baby, feed the baby, change the baby, nurse the baby, nurture the baby. Then, when the kids get older, we send them to school where we can teach them some more things, get them ready for higher education as they grow.

Bill Monty: 1:58

But after that, after college and into the 20s, the teaching kind of stops. If you think about it, it's all about self-education by then. Right, it's all trial and error, so to speak. There aren't any tried and true methods to teach you how to get older. You know our parents, my parents, when it came to rearing kids, they had a book by Dr Spock that taught them how to do it. If you're my age, we had Mr Spock and, as a path to getting older, highly illogical Bill Monty's guide for getting older.

Bill Monty: 2:30

It's me sharing my experiences with you and I'm going to make this clear right from the start. I am not an expert as deemed by any educational degree, okay, but I am an accomplished graduate of Life's Academy. To be clear, your situation may be and probably is different from mine, so always verify information before taking any action. If I tell you something to show, you should do check it out first. I'm going to give you the best information I have based on my experience. Okay, now we have some changes. If you were listening before, some of the show is going to change a little bit. I'm going to try and go in a kind of a different direction, sometimes a little bit lighter. One of the things I heard, one of the some of the feedback I got from the first season was it was nice, it was great information, but sometimes it got a little heavy. So we're gonna try and change there.

Bill Monty: 3:18

With season two coming back in February. Well, a lot of great things happen in February, right, it's Valentine's Day, it's the month of love. So we hope you have and you're going to celebrate Valentine's Day with your love. Maybe you're going to get some nice chocolates, or give some nice chocolate, some flowers, go out for a nice dinner. Make it something special. We have so few special days. It feels like there's so much pressure they're going on in the world. So take these special days, special times. Make sure you spend valuable time With those that you love and those that you care for.

Bill Monty: 3:55

This month in history, february Well, it is black history month. The black history month actually started out as a celebration called Negro History Week. That was created in 1926 by Carter G Woodson, a noted African-American historian, scholar, educator and publisher. Black educators and black United students at Kent State University first proposed a black history month in February of 1969. The first celebration of black history month took place at Kent State a year later. That was from January 2nd February 28th, 1970. Six years later, black history month was being celebrated all across the country an educational institution, centers of black culture and community centers, both great and small. When President Gerald Ford recognized black history month in 1976 during the celebration of the United States by Centennial, he urged Americans to seize the opportunity to honor the too often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of Endeavor throughout our history. The month of February was actually chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Bill Monty: 5:11

A couple of things that happened of note in February through our history. February 1st 1960 in Greensboro, north Carolina, for African-American students sat down and ordered coffee at a lunch counter inside a Woolworth store. Kind of hard to say Woolworth's these days, maybe because they're not around anymore. They were refused service, but they did not leave. Instead, they waited all day. The scene was repeated over the next few days, with protests spreading to other southern states, resulting in the eventual arrest of over 1600 persons for participating in sit-ins. It's hard to believe there was only 63 years ago when we still had citizens this country asking to be treated as equals, just to receive a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. In February of 2003, 16 minutes before it was scheduled to land, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flight over West Texas, killing all seven crew members. I remember I believe that was a Saturday morning Watching television when they broke in with the news and seeing the pieces of of debris scattered across the Texas fields. Just a horrible, horrible day.

Bill Monty: 6:21

A couple of notable birthdays in February. Hattie Caraway, maybe not a household name, but she was the first woman elected to the US Senate and she was born in Bakersville, Tennessee. Her husband became the US senator from Arkansas and, following his death in 1931, she filled the remainder of his term then was elected herself, serving a total of 14 years. Famous Hollywood director, John Ford, was born in February. Born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, known for films like The Grapes of Wrath and The Searchers, he also served in World War two as chief of the photographic unit of OSS and earned two Academy Awards for documentaries made during the war. February 3rd, 1870, the 15th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing the right of citizens to vote regardless of race, color or previous condition of servitude. Seems like that's one we're still trying to get right. On kind of a darker day. February 3rd, 1913 the 16th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, granting Congress the authority to collect income taxes. Oh my, maybe we could have done without that one. We'll be right back.

Bill Monty: 7:41

Cirque du Soleil, ECHO - Under the Big Top, coming to Gulf Stream Park from February 22nd April 21st, 2024. Echo is a spectacular performance combining poetry, stage craft, daring acrobatics and technology, exploring the delicate balance between people, animals and the world we all share. We're going to be giving away a pair of tickets. That's right, a pair of tickets. All you need to do to be entered is to write me at BillMonty04@ gmailcom and say, I want to go to the Cirque. We're also going to have special access to group tickets for groups of 10 or more and special discounted single tickets. How does 25% off sound? To learn more again, just write me at . I'll get back to you. And now you're going to get back to the show.

Bill Monty: 8:28

The discussion came up while we on break about how do we refer to ourselves, those of us who are 60 or 65 and older. Right now, seniors are senior citizens seems to be the most accepted one senior citizens. I don't want to get in the way of someone asking for their senior citizen discount, although I think most people now refer to it as an AARP discount for some reason or another. But it came up like why do we have that? We're Americans. We like to categorize everybody right. We like to be able to describe someone he's a senior citizen, he's this, he's that. We're big on that. We want to be able to tell everyone what someone is without just talking about them as people. Wish we could get past that, but in the meantime, we do have to deal with it. Now I know when we were kids we used to call him his old old fogies. Thank God that one went away.

Bill Monty: 9:15

So what do you like? Older adults, is that okay? Seniors? I did hear someone suggest super adults. I like that one. May I have these super adult discount please? Golden ages, that's another one, but it's a mouthful, but it kind of makes sense in a way. Teenagers, golden ages I mean I don't want to call it 60 ages, so golden ages, but are really? Is it really golden years for everybody? No, it isn't Newsflash, it isn't for everyone, so I don't know. You know, senior citizens really wasn't a big term until Social Security wasn't acted back in the 1930s. It described those 65 and above as senior citizens who would receive this financial assistance.

Bill Monty: 9:55

So what do you think? Seniors, senior citizens, older adults, super adults or just adults? Because adults works for me, why not? You're a child and you're a teenager, and when you turn 20 you are an adult. So, outside of the whole Social Security reason, why did we start saying someone 60 or 65 years of age had to have a special tag put on them? You know why not? You're just an adult.

Bill Monty: 10:19

So maybe that's where older adult comes in. I don't know. That's why I need your help. You need to let me know which one do you prefer? I'm going to give you choices Adults, older adults, super adults or senior citizens. You can write to me at billmontys04 at gmailcom, or you can give me a call at 754-800-370 and leave me a voicemail. Either way, we'll tally the poll there and let you know the next time that we meet what everyone thinks about that.

Bill Monty: 10:46

And don't worry if you didn't write that information down about where to contact me. It's all in my show notes at the bottom of the page, wherever you're listening from. So just go check there. So that, or we're going to I think we're going to call it a wrap on this show right here. It was great talking to you again, a great getting back into the saddle of Bill Monti's guide for getting older. One last thing if you could, if you find the time while you're on whatever platform you're on, listening to us, if you could hit that subscribe button, that would be fantastic. Subscribe is good for you because it'll be able to send you information with a new episode drop special offers, like the Cirque du Soleil offer that we have going on for those in South Florida. But we're reaching out. Oh, really exciting.

Bill Monty: 11:27

We are now part of baby boomer. org, which is a national website for baby boomers, so it has got podcasts. You can listen to my podcast there, Tales from South Florida, if you haven't listened to that yet, please do. Or Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older, and you can listen to a lot of other podcasts. There are podcasts on aging. There's podcasts on financials, legal help. If you're a caregiver for someone with dementia or some other dementia related disorder, there's podcasts for you.

Bill Monty: 11:55

There's 479 different podcasters and contributors on this site. There are authors, there are articles. You can take online courses from a trusted source. Go to babyboomer. org and support them. Okay, also, scroll down to the bottom of the page if you're on my website, and you can see other podcasts that I'm suggesting for you, other ones that I like. I think you'll like them too. Give them a try, give them a shout out, let them know. You heard about it from Bill Monty's Guide for G etting Older. We're going to call it a wrap. I just want to say to you be kind whenever possible and remember it's always possible. Take care of yourselves, my friends, and we will see you on the flip side.