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Inspired
by Foxworthy’s ‘Redneck’ books retired
senior publishes book poking fun at getting
old
ATLANTA—200
Sure-Fire, Lead-Pipe-Cinch,
No-Question-About-It Ways to Tell if . . .
You Might be Getting OLD! is the title
of a new book just published by 66-year-old
retiree Michael L. Garee of Metropolitan
Atlanta.
The book, which retails for $11.50, is
published by Eloquent Books of New York
City, is available at
www.youmightbegettingoldif.com, Amazon,
Barnes and Noble and other major online book
retailers. It is also available in book
stores throughout the nation.
Garee said his new book was strongly
inspired and influenced in both content and
style by the highly successful You Might
Be a Redneck If . . . series of books
published in recent years by actor/comedian
Jeff Foxworthy. As a way of “tipping his
hat” to Foxworthy’s comic genius and strong
influence on his book, Garee dedicated the
book to him.
“I’ve read every ‘Redneck’ book Foxworthy
has written, and have listened to most of
his tapes,” he said. “I found them—and
still find them—hilarious! I love the
guy! In my opinion, he’s a comic genius! I
figured if I could make my book only half as
good as his are it would be a tremendous
success.”
Origin
of the book
When Garee launched the senior Web site he
created and now hosts fulltime,
www.seniormomentsonline.org, and because
of his lifelong love of humor (particularly
off-beat humor), he said he made sure
that one of the site features would be based
on humor. That feature is called “Lighter
Side.”
“It’s easy to look at the world and the
really dreadful things going on in it at any
given point in time and fall into a deep,
dark funk,” said Garee, who served ten years
on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps
and is a veteran of the Vietnam War. “I
believe the more we can laugh the less time
we have to cry.”
Initially, “Lighter Side” featured mainly
satirical humor written by Garee. Then, he
said, he and his wife had a flash of
inspiration.
“My wife, Lynda, who is a disabled,
recovering stroke victim, by the way,
actually came up with the idea for my new
book,” Garee said. “She said, ‘You’re always
picking up one of Foxworthy’s books and
laughing your head off. Why not see if you
can use that style with a book about growing
older?’ So, that’s what I did.”
Book intended to be fast, fun read
As the title suggests, Garee uses 200
“one-liners,” 42 of which are illustrated
with cartoons, to suggest ways to tell if
you might, in fact, be getting old. The book
is arranged in nine sections: Your Sex Life;
At Home; Entertainment; Out ‘n’ About;
Technology; On the Job; Autos & Other Moving
Things; Your Health; and Style and Fashion.
“I have no illusions that my book is any
kind of ‘great literature’,” Garee laughed.
“I just had a lot of fun writing it, and I
hope people will have a lot of fun reading
it and sharing it with others. It’s meant to
be a fun, quick read, nothing more and
nothing less. Of course it would also make a
great, affordable gift for friends,
relatives and colleagues who are approaching
various age ‘milestones’, approaching
retirement, and events of that nature.”
Author hopes book inspiration to other
seniors
Garee, who is retired both from the
insurance industry and on Social Security,
said that he hopes that his writing his new
book will serve as somewhat of an
inspiration to other seniors who may find
themselves “feeling useless” once they
retire from the work force.
“While most seniors begin to look forward to
the day they can leave the work force
several years before that actually happens,”
he said. “oftentimes, they discover that the
idea of having all this free time,
with substantially reduced responsibilities,
is far, far different from the reality
of that situation.”
It sometimes doesn’t take all that long at
all for some seniors to begin feeling as
though they’re ready for the “scrap heap,”
that their skills, knowledge and life
experiences are no longer valued or
appreciated in today’s society, Garee added.
“I was sixty-five-years-old when I began
working on my book,” he said. “With all I
had on me at the time—having to care for a
disabled wife, essentially raising a
three-year-old granddaughter by myself and
trying to keep all the other ‘balls’ in the
air—I could simply have said, ‘Oh, well, I
just don’t have the time or the energy to
take on a project like this. Besides, I’m
just too old.’ But I wasn’t quite ready for
the ‘scrap heap’ then— and I still am not!”
He added that he hopes his fellow seniors
who still have substantial knowledge, skills
and talents will adopt this same “can-do”
attitude when it comes to doing something
they’ve always wanted to do, but
never seemed to have time to do it when they
were still in the active work force.
“Until I hear the ‘thud’ of dirt being
shoveled onto my coffin, I intend to stay in
the game,” he laughed. “I hope most of my
fellow seniors will do the same!”
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