Stories of Ageing -a Zoom event -12 February 2022

21 Feb Stories of Ageing -a Zoom event -12 February 2022

Dinner and Discussion for Older Lesbians started again in 2022 on Saturday 12 February.  The planning group were hoping to be face to face but with rising omicron infections and its ease of infecting people, we made the first event of the year on ZOOM for the safety of everyone.

The topic was Stories about ageing.

Three lesbians, in different age groups; 50s, 60s, and 70s shared an aspect of aging from their own life on the theme of aging for about 5 minutes each. We then moved into breakaway groups to share one of our own personal stories of aging for a good long discussion.

Sylvia gave us some suggestions to prepare for the group discussion:

Stories and anecdotes that have some silly or laughable content are always fun. Serious stories are good too. The objective of this topic is to hear about others and talk about ourselves at any age in our life.

• Was there an age when you considered yourself old enough for something but were actually too young?
• When did you first have an experience that made you think, ‘I am aging!’
• Menopause is one of the markers of aging in women, how did you experience it?
• How does your aging process compare with that of your mother or grandmothers?
• Have you started an activity or hobby as an older woman that is usually for those younger? How did it go?

Women talked about caring for others with dementia; being an older woman in the workplace; retiring; taking up creative endeavours; dealing with stereotypes and discrimination; health or aging, what is the real challenge?

The Zoom session was recorded and the audio has now been uploaded for you to listen to.  If you have comments, send them to Contact as letters to the editor and they will be published in the next newsletter.  We would love to hear what you think.

Diann

Stories of Ageing