Adult Dinner Topics
If you’re under 40, this post isn’t for you… but I guess you can read it for entertainment purposes.
To my friends and family over 40, have you noticed how dinner conversations have evolved over the years? When we were younger we discussed our jobs and our children’s activities like their current sports teams, school fundraisers and birthday parties. Now that we’re older we talk about our medical conditions, medications and retirement plans. 
How many people over 40 haven’t heard at least one funny colonoscopy prep story? Like my friend who took the prep in one long drink instead of diluting it with Gatorade and consuming over two hours like the directions indicate. Not a good idea, especially when it’s a Sunday evening and she still had to drive home from the cabin for her Monday morning appointment. Or the person who used red Gatorade as the mixer – note: never eat or drink anything with red dye before a colonoscopy. You will need to reschedule and prep again!
Other fun topics include:
Annual mammograms or other tests as a result of a mammogram like ultrasounds or biopsies. After your first few mammograms it’s really no big deal to flop your breast on the imaging plate. For those of you who are younger, know that mammograms have gotten so much easier! The imaging for dense tissue is so much better now and I swear they don’t squash your breast nearly as hard as they used to when the imaging was lower quality.
Knee and hip replacements, this includes conversations comparing orthopedic surgeons and physical therapy clinics as well as offering up crutches, braces, ice packs or other medical equipment and tips that made the recovery time more bearable.
Favorite chiropractors and massage therapists, including details about the areas being worked on such as “I have chronic pain in my shoulder from that car accident when I was younger” or “my L-4 is giving me trouble again.”
Current medications or supplements (like CoQ10 for heart health and muscle aches – I never heard about this until I was over 50 but everyone older than me seems to know about it!) and foods or beverages that don’t interact well (“No Paloma for me, I’m on a statin.”)
Instead of discussing our jobs, we discuss the benefits of working remotely and our retirement plans. This includes when and where everyone is going to escape the cold winter months and the benefits of renting versus buying, driving versus flying, golf course memberships, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, old people are fun to hang out with… not only are we all well-versed on medications, body parts and diets but we have more disposable income for traveling, going to nice restaurants and drinking great cocktails. And with all of this traveling, eating out and drinking we have a lot to talk about in addition to our aches and pains.
Cheers to getting older! It’s better than the alternative. 😉