"A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called old for the first time..." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Sitting in the waiting room at the tire place a couple of days ago, I was joined by three gentleman also awaiting their cars.
The television was on and a new report was being aired about cell phone use affecting our hearing.
I glanced over at the man sitting next to me who looked to be a bit older than me and said, "Great, one more thing to worry about!".
As he smiled at my comment, he then laughingly said, "Well, at our age our hearing is probably already going!".
Yikes!
Did he think that I was "old"????
And, how old exactly did he think that I was?
The nerve!
Then I started thinking....now that I have turned the ripe old age of 59, is that considered "old"?
Am I still in the middle-age range or have I jumped to another level?
And what are the levels actually? Young, adolescent, teen, young adult, middle aged, and then....old?
I want more levels than that!
How about middle-aged, older middle-aged, really old middle-aged, ridiculously old middle-aged, old enough to know better, old and cranky, old-fashioned, antiquated, older than dirt, elderly, old enough to remember the good old days, out-dated, oldie but goodie, old enough to get away with things, older and wiser, vintage, archaic, ancient.... and then what....?
Is the final classification "obsolete"?
*sigh*
4 comments:
I still don't think of myself as a senior citizen, even though I'm on Medicare and collect Social Security.
When I was in for a doctor's appointment a couple of years ago, my physician told me that the new old is 85.
Just come to Florida and you will feel like a teenager.
Gosh....if you're OLD, where does that put ME ? I don't thinkyou're even middle aged. Grammie or not you're still my little tomboy !!Dad (great Grandpa Mort)
Everytime I hear someone say "Oh you look like you're (15 years younger)!" I start not to mind my getting old instantly. I always wonder why "old" is included in the dictionary?
Have a great week, Grammie.
Well, I remember back in the olden days when 21 seemed so OLD to me, and looking at my OLD grandma, I wondered what happened to HER??? My older brother turned 52 this year, and I clean for a couple that are 90 and 96, they were married 73 years ago, and THEY are old in my eyes, though Mrs. A has given me serious "ear-yanking, sit down here at the table" discussions more than once when she felt I wasn't doing the cleaning or ironing up to her specifications.
Now that I'm nearing 45, and see the wrinkles, gray hair, and saggings around my ummm eyes, I wonder if I'm considered old. I get those "Maam's" a LOT more than I used to, and when I eye a younger hot-looking man, I see that EWWW, MOTHER look in his eyes where not too long ago I might have gotten a look of interest. Of course, these days, I'm sizing up those hot-looking guys for my daughter... (YA SURE!! Just call me Mrs. Robinson!!)
You're only as old as you feel, and today I feel like a 17-year old, sadly that's illegal in most states... =-)
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