<p>a mom going thru the college process at 75!!
my grandparents are ony 65
i cant imagine!</p>
<p>At that point, 4 years at a fine LAC will cost $400k (and only if they keep costs down.)</p>
<p>In the Days of the Temple, the Day of Atonement was the only day in which the High Priest--and only the High Priest-- entered the Holy of Holies. To make sure he could be brought out again, no matter what happened to him inside. a rope was tied around his waist and other priests held on to it outside the room. When I go into D's room, which is as infrequently as possible, I always feel someone should be standing in the hall, holding onto a rope tied around my waist to pull me out if I can't see my way back to the door.</p>
<p>I wish her the very best and hope that she has a good support system in place. To say that she doesn't know what she's in for is true, but all of us were in the same position with our first! :) As someone who had many pregnancy difficulties and who lost three premature babies, I never judge others' choices when it comes to having children. Everyone has their own path to parenthood and I don't think that there's any ONE right path. There are good, and bad, parents of every age. I wouldn't want to be having a baby at my age, let alone hers, but I wish her well.</p>
<p>I fit that concept. I was crazy about my first and he was enriched till it came out of his ears. And though I was trying to put a square peg into a round hole, some of it did rub off. Now I am much more mellow, and I think it makes the kids more mellow. All 3 of the little ones have emotional/behavioural issues, but they have not manifested themselves. In fact they are less high strung than my older boys. It is not such a personal thing with me anymore, and low key seems to be what these kids need.</p>
<p>"In the Days of the Temple, the Day of Atonement was the only day in which the High Priest--and only the High Priest-- entered the Holy of Holies."</p>
<p>Searchingavalon, what a great reference! My almost-15-year-old d is the same way--but unfortunately, she got the messy genes from me. Our S got the neat genes from my husband. Can you imagine having a teenage boy who I NEVER EVER had to tell to clean up his room????? Things balanced out with his younger sister, though. I don't get overly stressed--just every once in a while I go in and clean her room myself--Yes, I know I'm not supposed to do that, but it certainly works in our house, and everyone is happier.</p>
<p>cracking up here....about the rope. and isn't it amazing that they know where things are? Go in and ask them to find a certain piece of paper and they can reach over into a huge pile of mess and pull out just what's needed.....</p>
<p>Organized chaos</p>
<p>Unfortunately my boys haven't figured out the organized part yet</p>
<p>Well, my older brother is 25 years older than me. Of course, I'm from my father's third marriage, and my brother is from the first marriage, but still. I have nephews older than me. It was VERY difficult to have my father die--at age 70--when I was only 23, and my mother died at age 86 when I was 46. In some ways, I am grateful not to have to deal with aging parents when in my 70s (as my older sister did with her husband's parents and my mother as well), but... well, it's different, having older parents. </p>
<p>My mother was 39 when I was born, and was fired as a result of my birth (that was legal in 1955). She went on working--she was a writer--and I was raised by the nanny and my older siblings. My father was 48 and had grandchildren older than me. My parents were pretty much oblivious to whatever I did--and my father retired the year I started college. </p>
<p>At the time my kids were born, I was 30 and 31, and I felt OLD. Now I know lots of people who've had their first at 40-ish (like my college roommate)---and I'm really glad I'm not them. Kids are hard on the knees!</p>
<p>It is very hard to lose a parent when you are young, but y'know?--it can happen no matter how young or old they were--my dad died at 47; I was 14. So, even though I had mine at a ridiculously young age for these times (24 and 27), I try to empathize with those starting later. Actually, my hat's off to all of you who had them both younger AND older; for me, that would've been really tough!</p>
<p>Yes, it's difficult having a parent die at any age. The difference is that I always knew my parents wouldn't be around too much longer. (They were both heavy smokers, I'm astonished they lived as long as they did, esp. my mother, who was on oxygen for YEARS.) And there's a strong regret that I didn't know them when they were younger and more interested in having kids.</p>
<p>I understand what you're saying; especiallly about smoking. My dad died of oral cancer--which is very unusual in men his age, unless they drink and smoke a lot--bingo. But its true, I certainly wasn't expecting it, and at 46, I still have my 75 year old mom, goiing strong. I'm truly sorry if I came across as negating your experience, was more trying to convey the vagaries of life in general.</p>
<p>Garland--I didn't feel "negated" in any way; I was trying to make sure I conveyed the differences in having older parents. It <em>was</em> very strange in elementary school, when my parents were actually older than some of my friends' grandparents!</p>
<p>my younger sister is pg with her 5th child which will be born a little before her 43rd birthday.
Her husband will be 60 next year, but he looks every single day.
I just look at her in amazement and dread cause she already shares way more than I want to know. :o</p>
<p>I think while the numbers sound shocking , it really depends on the person.
My neighbor is 90, and she is way more active than my mother who is 69.</p>
<p>In fact my neighbor is more active than me!
( She regulary hikes and camps and I don't get to as much as I would like)</p>
<p>I just wanted to say that I could relate so much to your posts! We have six kiddos, three boys and three girls. My oldest is the one applying to colleges this year. We, too, had almost nothing when I had him. My husband did contracting work, and we moved around the country at least once a year. When I was pregnant with my son, we lived on two lawn chairs, two wire lawn tables and a mattress on the floor. I was put on bedrest 7 weeks before he was born, and he came home to a crib and a carseat. BUT, he was cherished beyond words and entertained/enriched more than any child has ever been! </p>
<p>As we went down the line, things were up and down financially, but like you, we may have had more "stuff" with the last few but less time/energy. Now, as I lend my support to my son with his college search/application process, I am doing first-grade stuff with my youngest!</p>
<p>None of my pregnancies/births etc. was what I had hoped for or dreamed of, but I cannot fail to appreciate six healthy, bright, loving, well-adjusted kids. So we didn't have the fancy extras...at least we have the substance!</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>jamimom & sybbie, beautiful posts. Momsdream: exactly! Less plastic crap, more sets of hands! LOL! </p>
<p>Jamimon, I too have a 7 year old (and a HS senior.) My youngest also did not have an official bed until he was evicted from ours at about age 3 1/2. I proudly thought that he had made a seamles adjustment to sleeping by himself, because after a few days he did not persist in coming back in to me. I eventually realized he was just getting into bed w/ one of his teen siblings who were both sleeping too heavily to notice him and kick him out. (That seemed like a fine solution to me.) </p>
<p>You blink your eyes and Wheels on the Bus turns into eminem. It goes so fast! I am trying to savor my little guy. </p>
<p>A big issue I can see coming is how bereft he will feel as his sibs go off to their own lives and he's stuck at home solo. We'll probably have to get a dog!</p>
<p>Today's gem from CNN is below. Perhaps kids leaving for college should make sure to have "The Talk" with their parents or grandparents -- for the parents' and grandparents' sakes!</p>
<p><<Great-grandmother set to deliver twins</p>
<p>Birth would break record set Tuesday by New York woman</p>
<p>SYLVESTER, Georgia (AP) -- A 59-year-old great-grandmother is pregnant with twins and will deliver next month, three decades after she had her tubes tied. "They came untied," Frances Harris said Thursday.>></p>
<p>Thought that I was the OPB here, and maybe I am (I am older than 57), but it looks like in a few years Jamimom and her brother will eclipse that, not to mention this lady in the news and probably a lot of other folks. When Jamimom gets there, it should be an automatic promotion to Goddess rank.</p>
<p>I've been looking for this thread! Someone told me this morning about a 60 year old couple who just adopted a little kid from China. Totally out of context for this particular conversation, my first thought was to compute how old they would be when the kid was a high school senior.</p>
<p>And I thought my poor SIL took the prize - after 14 years of marriage, and basically giving up, she had her first last March at almost 38 y/o - MD said get cracking if you want to have another, they got cracking, now she's pregnant with twins due on her baby's first birthday - new mom 38 years old, 3 babies less than one year of age - I get tired just thinking about it.</p>