I was watching the news earlier and some talking head said “Twenty years ago during Ronald Regan’s successful run for the White House…”
Twenty years isn’t much in the realm of history, but geez, that’s 2/3 of my life!
Something similar happened earlier this summer when a former member of grampa’s softball team showed up with his daughter. I hadn’t seen her in 15 years, I’m sure, and it was startling to realize she was about to graduate from high school - the last time I had seen her she was barely starting school.
When I recently saw the twins I occasionally baby-sat for at a party - they’re now 21, about 6 feet tall, really cute. I am simultaneously thinking “Gawd, am I old…” (I’m 35), and “Geez, these guys are really cute and that hug felt really good - maybe I should get one 'em to do me.” So I’m not that old. I just haven’t gotten any in a while.
A night doesn’t go by that I don’t hear about someone my age dropping dead.
What makes it worse is noone seems all that shocked. On the tube they’ll show a guy in his late twenties talking about testicular cancer. Testicular Cancer!!! That’s an old man’s disease.
Or they’ll show the parents of someone in their twenties who has died suddenly and their left saying, “Well, he lived a nice and happy life.”. Huh!?! I haven’t begun to live a nice and happy life.
At least let me move out of an apartment before I die. I want to accomplish something in this world. Give me some friggin’ time before you knock me off.
And another thing, let me read or look at a Playboy without feeling like a pedophile! She was born when! Dear God, thats… thats… 18!!! I’m not a perv!
My blood pressure’s beginning to rise. Where’s my Afghan blanket, I need to lay down.
Oh no it’s not. A lot of young men die because of this kind of thinking .
As to the OP .
A while ago while walking to my parents house for Sunday Dinner I found myself walking behind a mighty fine looking 6ft girl in a miniskirt. She turned and said hello and it was only then I realised that it was a child who I babysat a few times :eek: I felt like a dirty old man (29btw) .
sandyr, I have a slightly different perspective. First, as far as counting fractions of your life, I would subtract the first 15 or 20 years beacuse those are the formative years and you are not yet a totally independent and mature person. What i mean is that going from 30 to 40 doubles your experiences as an adult.
At any rate, my perspective is very different from yours but than I am male, single and older than you. This conditions my perspective very much and I realize it.
I have not felt old a single day in my life. In fact, I feel much better with myself now than I ever did and I am always amused when someone younger somehow feels superior just because if their age. I know a ton more now than I did before, I have a much more balanced view of the world and I still enjoy myself as much as anyone can. I sail my boat, I travel quite a bit, I enjoy reading and learning. When I see the kids at the nearby University and see their concept of fun is getting drunk, I think about how much better off I am. Many of those kids are full of insecurities and worries that you do not have twenty years later.
As I say, if i were married and had the responsibility of kids I may feel the weight of that burden. If I had gone through bad marriage and divorce that might show too. If I were female I might see things differently. I can see some females who made being pretty the essential part of their life and when they hit 35 they realize their worth is dissolving fast. It’s pathetic.
But I am male, in good health, unencumbered and have enough experience and intelligence to see that life now is much better for me than when I was younger. If some kid thinks he’s better because he’s young I will laugh at him because he is just showing the ignorance of his youth.
To quote Samuel butler:
To love God is to have good health, good looks, good sense, experience, a kindly nature and a fair balance of cash in hand.
I’m quite happy at 29 - have no problems aging, am happier now than I was at 21.
It’s just than every now and again I hear or read something that makes me think of how much time has gone by or how much has changed (personally or not) since the incident in question.
I was a sophomore in H.S. when this happened, and it really shook me up - it was the first time that the death of a someone I didn’t personally know had a personal impact. (The second time was when John Belushi died.) I am the youngest of 5, and I grew up listening to the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, the Who, etc. What freaked me out was that a lot of the kids I was in school with didn’t know who John Lennon was. So I felt “old” in a way even though I was the same age as everyone else.
Some high schoolers in the apartment complex stopped by my place to borrow some dice for playing D&D. Not only was it bad enough that I suddenly realized these kids were 5 or 6 years old when I graduated high school, but they saw some old records of mine and were amazed at seeing vinyl albums as if they were relics from Atlantis.
Lissen, there’s nothing to make you feel old like going to college after 30. These little girls here are so full of energy, I just want to kill them sometimes. Plus, the thought that my 20 year HS reunion will happen in two years (y’all can do the math) is mind-boggling.
Then again, I feel so much more confident and comfortable with myself than I did in my 20s. Plus, I am in my sexual prime these days…heh heh.
You wanna hear a story? I heard a knock on the front door, I go downstairs and it’s the neighbor’s kid, aged about 12. He asks if he can use the phone to call his parents because he’s locked himself out of the house. I say, sure, come on in, and I wave him into the living room and tell him to use the phone while I make myself some coffee in the kitchen.
Ten minutes later I come back and he’s just standing there by the phone and looking at me. “So, did you talk to your parents?” He looks at me puzzled and says “I don’t know how to use this phone”. The kid has never seen a rotary phone in his life!! (not to mention he was too shy to come into the kitchen and ask) I had to dial the number for him because even after I showed him he did not quite get the hang of it.
When I get to work on a morning there is often a note in the Gatelodge about someone or other dying in service or they have left the job due to illness.
Looking at how young they are makes me feel both sad and fortunate.
Nowadays a five minute wait is nothing at all yet when I was younger it seemed like I’d die of boredom if I was still for more than a few seconds.
Actually, VV, I barely remember this. Maybe because at 9 I was still listening to my parents’ music, which was/is mostly country? Whatever the case, I have better recollection of the political situation at that time - hostages in Iran, etc.
And, yes, I think we’ve already established that you’re and old hag
sailor, that’s exactly what I was talking about
And you know it’s kind of strange you bring up rotary phones - my cousin and I were talking the other day about how both sets of grandparents have one as their primary phone. And neither set will get an answering machine.
I went to a bridal shower this afternoon for my cousin, who is getting married in about a month. One of my other cousins was there, and she’s 16 years old. We were discussing the clothing styles today, and we got on the topic of kids wearing pants that show off the tops of their underwear. Here’s what was said:
Me: I hate seeing the tops of kids’ underwear. You know, when you go out in public, your underwear just isn’t supposed to show. It’s not cool.
Cousin: My boyfriend has these boxers that he wears with his jeans, and they look really cute–
Me: NO! NO NO NO! Your UNDERWEAR showing IS NOT CUTE! It is not cute NOW, it was NEVER cute, and it will NEVER EVER be CUTE!!
My mom, aunt, and various other party guests: GO CRISTI!
