Friday, December 12, 2014

Young as I ever was


When do you officially become an old person? I know the older I get the higher that number becomes.

I remember when I was a kid playing in the front yard with a group of neighborhood kids, we all ended up sitting in a circle talking back and forth, when one of the girls mentioned that it was her Daddys birthday.

This started everyone discussing their parents ages, everyone’s parents were twenty something, and it was like I had won a prize or something because my Mom was the youngest of the group.

We all excitedly passed around comments like “tell your dad Happy Birthday”, “is there going to be cake”, “when is the party”, “can we come”, and then the dreaded question arrived “How old is your Dad?”

She looked at the ground and said “my Daddy is thirty” we all dropped our heads for a moment of silence, before the discussion turned to comments of how no one could believe how old her daddy was, we couldn’t imagine someone that old having kids, needless to say there was no cake for any of us.

When I was fifteen I remember my Grandmother celebrating her fiftieth birthday, in my mind that was ancient but she still got around good, she was still working everyday and this was just a sign that she was doing pretty good for fifty, but again all of the kids my age just knew fifty was already over the hill.

When I turned twenty and my Dad turned forty the same month, I gave him a birthday card signed with an affectionate, “Happy Birthday, just think you are now twice as old as me” that was a good year and I had fun giving the “Old Man” a hard time.

When I turned forty he gave me a birthday card signed simply, “I am not twice as old as you are now, look how fast you are catching up” and every year since he makes me laugh when he asks “how much older than you am I this year?”

I hit my fiftieth a few years back and the AARP propaganda pamphlets began filling my mailbox, this made me question if I had become old yet, I haven’t fallen for the propaganda as of yet but will accept a senior discount when offered one.

Fifty-five will be coming this June, and now seventy sure doesn’t look as old as it once did, heck I’d settle for being thirty once again, even if the neighborhood kids did think I was ancient, heck I’d even share my cake.

One of the last times I saw my great grandmother she was in her nineties, she had been a little wobbly and was supposed to be taking it easy, Cindy and I found her on the front porch of her home sweeping with a straw broom, “What are you doing Granny?” “Just sweeping off this porch”, You are supposed to be taking it easy I told her to which she replied, “This is easy, I should be able to sweep off my own porch, because I know it wont sweep itself”

She sure made ninety look good.

I suppose being old is just a matter of opinion relating to how young you are when looking at a particular age.

When do you officially become an old person? Or do we ever get too old?

30 comments:

  1. Even at 56, almost 57, I don't think I'm an old person, however, I did get a dose of reality a few years back when a clerk at the store addressed me as "ma'am". I turned around looking to see who she was talking to and realized it was me. I feel 30 most days (at least in my mind, my body tells me otherwise).

    betty

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    1. Hi Betty, Same here I really don't see myself as old but the reality checks from the kids sometimes makes us question it :)

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  2. Old is at least five years older than I am.

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    1. I agree Joe it has to be at least five years above our age.

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  3. At almost 60 and feeling like what it must feel like to be 90, I have had to accept the fact that, at least for me, I'm old. Nowadays, I just pray to get older! Most older people can run circles around me and I'm quite envious.

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    1. Just praying to get older is a good thing Ms. A, at least this means you are not at the end yet :)

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  4. 26 was once thought to be old ... by me. It really hit me when I reached that age. Well I'm still going strong at 80, still active in the outside world and wondering when the time will come to have a rest.

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    1. Being active at 80 is impressive Valerie, a lot of people have given up getting out and doing things even at my age, my hat is off to you my dear friend.

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  5. 50 is the new 30! That's what I say!

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  6. Jimmy, it's funny how the meaning of "old" has changed since I was a kid. Back then, I thought I was old when I hit 30. Now, I'm 59, and feel 30 - HA!

    "I suppose being old is just a matter of opinion relating to how young you are when looking at a particular age."

    You're right!

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    1. Hey Ron, Feeling 30 at 59 now that is what I like to hear, they say we may have to grow old but we don't have to grow up, as long as we keep changing the definition of old then we don't have to grow old either.

      Good to see you Buddy

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  7. too cute on the '30' being ancient. oh, the good ol' days... :)

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    1. Oh yes the good old days, isn't it funny how differently we saw things then :)

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  8. In the 60's, (1960's) we believed you couldn't trust anyone over 30. When I was in my 20s, a friend turned 48 and I wondered how she could be so happy, that close to death. Then I hit my 60s and get told how young I am by people in their 80s, and it's kind of sickening, knowing that I have to hear that from people in their 80s now. The news is the first to constantly refer to people my age as THE ELDERLY. My personality has always been an old one, and now I'm referred to as the elderly. It hurts. And it will continue to hurt until I'm referred to as "THE LATE" Dana Joy.

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    1. Being referred to as elderly and being offered senior discounts don't bother me near as much as the music I love being classified as "oldies"

      Things like this may hurt but look at it this way, it wont be long before they are being called elderly too :)

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    2. It's MUCH worse when the music your kids listened to gets classified as "oldies."

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    3. I am afraid that it is already there, just don't want to admit it yet ha ha

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  9. I sometimes think we'd all be better served if we lived in a world without mirrors. I often wonder about the old face looking back at me when I shave. Who is that fellow? Without mirrors it would be easier to convince myself I'm forty, which is how old I feel inside.

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    1. Hey Stephen, I was looking at pictures of one of my class reunions and thinking how old everyone looked, never thinking that they are all the same age as me, the guy looking back in the mirror looked just like them ha ha

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  10. I'll be 56 in January...and I have never been bothered by any age. I can honestly say that each decade was better than the previous one, and studies seem to back me up - older people are happier.

    It was funny, though, how I got a little melancholy when my oldest son turned 30 and then 35. Wow...he's starting to get old... LOL.

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    1. That is funny when you start looking at your kids as old but not yourself, we never see it in ourselves do we?

      Cindy was busy buying stocking stuffers and such for our daughter, I had to remind her that the daughter is now 30 :)

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  11. Old is always 15 years older than I am. I just hit the big 5-0, those AARP party poopers!
    I really don't think about it that much, usually, but it does enter my thoughts more now than it used to. My father-in-law turned 80 this year, and says it doesn't feel as old as he thought it would. There's hope for us!

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    1. Yes Abby there is definitely hope for us, I don't think many people really dwell on their ages, it's mostly the younger folks that point it out for us ha ha

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  12. I turned fifty back in November, feel about the same as always. I know your not supposed to wish your life away but when I turn sixty and my National Guard retirement hits those checks will be going for some trips to Europe and back down to the Caribbean. When I'm on those trips I fully intend to act half my age or even younger.

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  13. That I am older now than my grandparents were when I first became cognizant of them is still something that hasn't quite sunk in. I'm also wrestling with the fact that I am older than every one of the Three Stooges in their short subject appearances (excluding Shemp's final few years, so God bless him.)

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    1. Hey Jim, In doing genealogy research I have noticed that I have outlived many of my grandparents, still can't make myself see this possibility.

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  14. Age is one of those things we can't do a darned thing about, so we might as well just enjoy whatever age we happen to be, and hope to be around to celebrate another birthday or two. On the inside, I'm still a kid with a wacky sense of humor, and I hope that as long as I'm still laughing and having fun, I'm still "young". On the outside, not so much. But it's actually quite easy to ignore all that age stuff if one avoids mirrors as much as possible. (Besides, like bathroom scales, they lie something fierce.) But I can't avoid our kids. All three of 'em had the audacity to let their hair turn gray. How insensitive of them! Can't they tell I'm trying to stay young here...?

    Bottom line, age is just a stupid ol' number. Just because it's getting bigger doesn't mean we have to be or act "old." There's still a young person inside of us all. (Wondering what the heck happened!)

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    1. Very wise words Susan, age is in fact just a number and it is up to us if we allow it to overtake the kid inside of us all :)

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