So far, being 60 isn’t
as horrible as I’d feared it would be. But then, I’ve only been 60 since
Monday.
One of the things that
has always amazed me—since my early 20s—is the realization that despite our age,
there’s a part of us, deep inside that is, in fact, ageless. Think about it for
a moment. Focus on the you beneath the physical. Don’t you feel like the same
person, inside, that you’ve always been?
Sometimes that sense
is so strong, that it can be a real shock, looking in the mirror. And I’m not
the only one to experience that, either.
One day, a few years
ago, my daughter was going through her wedding photo album. My husband was close
by, knew what she was doing, and had a look over her shoulder. Then he frowned,
and in all seriousness, pointed at one of the pictures and said, “Who’s that old
guy? I don’t remember seeing him there.”
My daughter just met
his gaze and said, “That’s you, you fool.”
My husband
mumbled something that sounded like “no way”. Then he sighed and said,
“I was afraid you were going to say that. It’s why I don’t look in the
mirror unless I have to.”
As we age, for the
most part, it’s our bodies that change. We lose height and gain body mass (well,
most of us do). Where we used to take a single vitamin in the morning, now we
have those handy little pill organizers chock full of our daily doses of better
living through chemistry. We use new and creative means and then resort to cuss
words when we try to get our bodies to bend the way we need them to bend just to
be able to put on our socks. One thing that doesn’t make any sense at all: why
the floor has gotten so much farther away when we’re not as tall as we used to
be.
We need afternoon naps
much more than we ever used to—and earlier, too, beginning mid-morning. We used
to walk for blocks, and now we just read the blogs, instead.
But it really isn’t
only in the physical disciplines, or lack thereof, where our increased age
shows. Some things that used to really annoy us don’t cause a single blip on our
mental or emotional radar, while things that are really inconsequential in the
overall scheme of things, are often causes for all out, bloody war.
We used to have
no trouble at all with the concepts of tact and diplomacy when we were
younger—yes you might have thought something, but you certainly never would
say it. Now—for better or
worse—our inner curmudgeon seems to have taken over. He—or she—isn’t so inner
anymore.
I wondered about that
last fact, and I decided that the real truth is, the emergence of our heretofore
mute inner imp is, in fact, a reward to us. It is! It’s nature’s gift to us for
our having lasted so long. It likely begins coming out around the age of 60
(imagine that!) but isn’t fully out of its cocoon and at full power until the
mid seventies heading toward eighty.
Do you doubt me?
Remember that friend who always asked you if a particular outfit made her look
sallow and ugly? And you, being in your twenties or thirties would find creative
ways of either not commenting, or telling one of those myriad little white lies
to assure her she was beautiful? Because, really, what was the point of being
honest?
Well, getting older
seems to free people from the need to be quite so diplomatic. I can foresee a
time when someone might ask me, “does this outfit make me look ugly?” and my
response might be, “honey, the outfit has nothing to do with it.”
And no one will
shush me because, well, I’ll be old!
One more thing
getting older means is a slight change of perspective. When you’re older you
look at the youth of today and realize they’re lazy, they have no respect,
possess hideous personal hygiene, questionable taste in music and clothes, and
are completely self centered.
Hmm. Come to think of
it, I seem to recall hearing words to that affect from the elders of my day,
when I was a twenty-something.
Love,
Morgan
You nailed it! Of course, since I'll be 64 next week, I've already found it all out the hard way. Of course, there is the fun we have that we wouldn't have been smart enough to appreciate...then.
ReplyDeleteGreat take on aging. I've been absent in reading your Wednesday Words. Have missed them. Creative Blessings
ReplyDelete