Something I find extremely unsettling as I get older is that I have comics, records, and toys which I bought over 30 years ago that are in far better shape than I am. I look at them in their pristine state and marvel at the fact that, while I've grown old and 'dilapidated', they remain mostly unchanged and in the same condition as when I first bought them. Now I ask you - is that fair?
I've had a good run, seemingly younger than my years for a long time, but recently (well, for quite a while actually) I've begun to notice that when handling a comic or toy, the hands which frame them have started to look old and weathered, and no longer appear to be the same supple, wrinkle-free appendages that I was unconsciously familiar with for so many years.
How about you, readers? Can you recall when you first fully realised you'd crossed the divide between youth and middle (or old) age, without knowing how you got from one point to the other? Like death, it sort of creeps up on us unawares - like a thief in the night - and suddenly our youth has deserted us and sloped off to that far away country called the past. Feel free to wax lyrical in the comments section.
14 comments:
Like yourself Kid I've started to notice aging more recently I've gone almost totally grey in the last 3 years , still relatively wrinkle free but my knees creak after a 10min ride in the car or after sitting for a time worse for me is the realisation that when school leavers /young folk in 20s start at my place of work I'm no longer in the age range of their parents but their grandparents ! And when did 1977 (my last year at school) become over 40 years ago! Not to mention glasses, high blood pressure intolerance to idiots .....
Had to suppress a chuckle once when a friend of mine confided the suspicion that he might be losing his youthful looks.
He was 47.
I first noticed when I looked in the mirror and saw my father looking back at me.
Yeah, McS - 1977. It seems fairly recent to me - a few years ago at the most. There are people alive today who are parents with grown up children who weren't even born then (I include the parents), which I find difficult to wrap my head around. Where did it go?
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Well, BS, when I was 47, on a good day I could get away with saying I was around 39. Having said that, when I was 17, I could get away with saying I was around 40. Bob Hope at 81, looked like he was in his 60s, so some people do look younger than their years. Obviously, I don't know about your pal though.
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Talking of Bob Hope (as I was above), H, when I saw him at the Edinburgh Playhouse in 1984, he said that whenever he caught one of his old movies on TV, it was like watching a son he never knew he had. That's what I feel like when I see an old photo of myself these days.
January of 2018 we were visiting Florida. My wife casually said "You should buy a hat or you'll get a sunburn on your bald patch".
OUCH!
I take it you didn't know about your bald patch until she mentioned it, eh? Never mind, T47 - wait until the next time she asks you if her 'bum looks big in this' and say 'yes'. It might not be true, but at least you'll get your own back.
Over the last 10 years I have noticed the ageing process.From Heart attacks (triple Bypass ) to Kidney problems now enlarged Prostate ...All I do is count the number of visits during the night to the bathroom and all the pills i take.. Once a fit specimen I am now falling to bits.
It doesn't get any easier, does it? Around 15 years ago I had a medical and was told that everything about me was textbook perfect. Now I'm a wreck, and the only thing perfect about me is that I'm a perfect example of how quickly things can change for the worse.
As long as I don't sit or crouch down for too long and stay away from mirrors I'm still about 28, which is how I see myself in my minds eye as I'm walking about day to day, but should any of the above occur boy do I get a reality check! As you say - where did the time go?!! We have two 'children', well I guess that they'd rather be called young adults, both of them now living in their own places and a neice who has two small children of her own - that last one really hits me whenever there is a family gathering. Just seems like yesterday when I recall looking over at the older aunts and uncles at such gatherings and now I have become one of those older uncles in someone else's eyes. Scary!
Just live in the moment I guess is all that you can do because that moment will soon be weeks, even years ago before you know it.
I can feel like different ages at different times, PC - at least on a temporary basis. Sometimes I feel like I'm still 7, or 11, or 14, 18, 28, etc. - it depends where my mind is at the moment. If I'm re-reading a comic I first read when I was 7, then I'm that age again, etc., but usually I feel as if I'm in my mid-20s. Everything after that point has just flown by. Like you say, scary.
Thing is, not being married and having no kids, and still living in the house I first moved into when I was 13 and a half, there's no discernible difference to my life from then, apart from the fact that I'm older. You'd think that such a situation would make it easier for me to feel as young as I ever did - and, as I said, sometimes I do, but reality has started to intrude more and more as I get older.
"We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near."
Slowly but surely. When I had trouble reading the newspaper I knew I was in trouble. These days I see the grey in my hair. Eek.
I can see the grey creeping into my hair as well, PS, though creeping is probably the wrong word. More like running.
And my best friend in the U.K. has become a grandad! I think my time on this mudball is entering the second half...
I think my time has entered its final third - and even then, only if I'm lucky. Is he your best friend, PS, who just happens to live in the UK, or is he your best UK friend? (As in, you also have a best friend in the US.)
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