BABY BOOMERS (Part I)

           Baby Boomers ( born between 1945 and 1964)

Highlands West of  Inverness

     

Agnes :    A professional,  still working and plan to retire in another five years

 Betty :    Recently quitted her thirtieth job and  is currently looking for a job

 Carol :     Quitted working several years ago and care for the aging parents

 Dorothy:   A full time housewife

(Place : Inside a restaurant. The women are sharing a salad, a roast beef sandwich and some pasta.)

Dorothy           My  dad’s dementia appears to be getting worse.

Carol           Mmmmm.. I don’t mind losing memory of some of the things that had  happened in my life.

Betty               Oh no not dementia or Alzheimer,  you don’t want that to happen. That ‘s when you do not recall recent events and you probably remember every single detail about the past.

Dorothy          It’s terrible to not  know or remember the things you normally do.

Agnes             It feels like overloading of information sometimes I forget where I left my sunglasses and they are just sitting right on top of my head …hope that’s  not  a sign of me losing my mind.

Dorothy         Well he placed his dentures in the fridge…..argh well….

Betty               Old age sucks!

Agnes           These days sometimes when I switch bags and I have a tough time   remembering where I could have left my car keys or a particular lipstick  in.  Is that a sign of Alzheimer?

Dorothy        I guess you won’t know when it happens. My advice to you : stick to one  bag.

Carol           I find that I have to remember my dad’s pills and I’m  beginning to forget  my own supplements.

Agnes           Oh what kind of supplements are you on?

Carol            Barley green, bilberry, fish oil  and evening primrose oil.

Agnes           That many?

Carol            I want to stay healthy to enjoy my senior citizenship. Another 10 years?

Betty            Aiyo not so soon, if you think you are old you are old.

Agnes       We should have majong sessions, remember the cards sessions during our bungalow stays?

Carol             Agnes  used to win all the time.

Betty            Agnes was  always game to be  a banker.

Dorothy       Hey I remember Agnes was really good at playing bluff, even Kenny and his boys lost to you.

Betty            Hey  that sounds so incorrect. What do you mean by even the boys lost to her ?

Agnes     You girls have such good memory, I cannot remember at all. 

Carol      Remembering stuff about our past will not help. This talk is depressing me, let’s order coffee.

(As Carol tries to get the attention of one of the waiters, Betty looks contemplative.)

Betty           I remember my mother telling me about  some relative of my aunt fell into a   habit of   washing her hands repeatedly. It sounded like she had some sort  of compulsive obsessive disorder but  to think of it , she could have forgotten that she had already washed her hands. That must be dementia.

Agnes         Terrible isn’t it?  I wonder if we are constantly  in denial of the happening of certain things and consciously ignoring it you know by blocking out a certain part of our memory, will that trigger dementia?

Dorothy       Far out!

           

         
            Agnes           No it is not so incredulous. You know when you so want to escape from reality,    you reconstruct your actual situation or what you witness otherwise it is unbearable.

Dorothy       Sounds too deep to me .

Betty         Mmmm  an exercise to forget things ? Interesting. Well is that what is called           distortion of reality?

Carol          We  face different challenges  at different age. Stop worrying . Why is the     

               waiter  walking away ?

Dorothy      We are no more pretty faces lo, that’s why he does not see us .  

Betty           Hey speak for yourself .  Look at  Agnes amazingly fit .

Agnes          Mmmm thanks Betty.

Dorothy     Of course she exercises eight times a week. I look like a old bag. 

Carol          No you don’t.  Stop whining, you should come and join me for walks around the botanical garden.

Dorothy     You kidding. I don’t have time.

Betty           I think exercise is definitely important to keep our mental faculty sane.

Agnes         Yup I need to de-stress through my tennis and running. I think I'll go bonkers without my workout.

Betty           It is the serotonin that picks us up.

Carol          Maybe that is one of the ways to prevent the mind from slipping.  I   reckon worrying is definitely bad for health.

Betty         Of course of course, when we worry we just zoom in and the issues become magnified. When that happens, I find my head hurting.

Dorothy      No kidding?

Betty           No kidding.

Dorothy     Should I bang the table to get attention ?

Betty           No you don’t.  Look he is coming over to our table now.

The women order their coffee and continue to chatter, chatter, chatter…..