Exactly when do you realize you’re in your golden years. Is it when you wake up in the morning with aches and pains that you feel you can only jumpstart your day with a cup of coffee and a shower or, is it when you need to use a jar opener to twist open a sealed jar whereas before, you could easily open the jar by twisting the cap with your bare hands. For me, it was when I felt I needed a longer arm to read what was in my hand, thus, necessitating a visit to my opthalmologist who prescribed reading glasses.

At present, 65 is the retirement age in Canada. It’s the age when a Canadian can start collecting Old Age Security pension provided the claimant has lived in the country for a minimum of 10 years. It’s also the age when retirees can claim the Canada Pension Plan benefits owing to them, depending on their contribution through employment. There is no mandatory retirement age in Canada except for judges and law enforcers. A federally appointed judge retires at 75.  RCMP Commissioner retires at 62, his deputy at 61, and officers at 60, subject to a yearly extension until aged 65. Normal retirement age for police officers and firefighters is 60.

I’ve always upheld the opinion that retirement is a personal choice. You can be retired from your employment and engage in another career completely foreign to what you did during your productive years. I know of a commercial airline purser who was forced to retire at 63 because of the pandemic and discovered he has a green thumb, so he took up small-scale farming. And, he’s enjoying it. It keeps him healthy being out in his field, tending to his lettuces and tomatoes which he sells to friends and families. On top of this, he finds himself to be at his healthiest now more than ever.

When I was getting on in years, I toyed with the idea of retiring in the Philippines, perhaps in a farm or close to the beach. During my last trip there, I had a change of heart. The present conditions there are not ripe for my retirement, I concluded. Back here in Toronto, my second option on where to spend my waning years proved to be lethal. J. J. McCullough, contributing columnist for The Washington Post, in her article dated April 6, 2021, put it succinctly when she reported that more than 2/3 of COVID fatalities in Canada occurred in long-term care homes. Canadian Institute for Health Information stated that 7,260 seniors died during the first wave, ie March to August 2020. And during the second wave, 7,479 perished. These are shocking numbers when I think of these fatalities as the people who helped make Canada what it is today – a sympathetic nation which gives every refugee an opportunity to present his/her claim as a Convention Refugee.

In some ways, when it comes to treatment of elderlies, Canada differs from other countries like the Philippines, for example. Filipino elderlies are cared for and stay in their homes until they die. Or, they stay with a daughter, married or unmarried, until they meet their Maker and are included in family affairs, even in family decision-making. The above photo shows a relative being feted on her 80th birthday. Seven days after her 81st birthday, she slipped on quietly while on her afternoon nap. And she was in her own house.

Whatever awaits me in my old age, I try not to mull over it. I get on with my day like its my last on earth. One thing is certain though. I will be staying in Toronto for now where there’s easy access to hospitals. After all, I’m aware that old people are like babies: well yesterday, unwell today.

In the pic: the Rekai Centre, Wellesley