Is getting old inevitable?

There is an alternative to growing old.

(But you probably wouldn't like it.)

I'm SO not going to be a cool old lady. I look forward to crabbing and saying, 'Is that Edie's youngest?' and having a tartan blanket.

Nope. It is a frame of mind. My boss is like 80+ and he runs this company with unmatchable energy. We cannot keep up with him. He is never tired.

I have another good friend who is almost 50 and does EVERYTHING. She takes classes, travels, hangs out with college kids...hangs out with a couple of old farts (they're 70-ish) dates everyone in between, and has been known to drive across country to see the Stones, Who, AC DC, Ozzie and even Papa Roach.

On the other hand I have a good friend who just turned 50 and suddenly OMG everything is a pain, and no one understands, and kids these days...

she even had the temerity to call me a 'kid'.

My guess is that her younger sister (46) just got pregnant for the first time and, being childless, my friend decided she needed to be 'Old' to be an aunt.

Maybe someone your dad knew in HS or College passed and that made him feel old.
Take him clubbing, or to OZ Fest, or something. That'll young him up again!


Note: I gave up plans to 'grow up' when I taught my son how to make arm farts when grandma wasn't looking.

my best friend and I have laid out plans to live so long our hair falls out and then we'll get bulls-eyes tattooed to the tops of our heads.

I made these plans in the parking lot of a CVS.

Growing old is inevitable. Growing up is optional. And I ain't gonna do it. So there.

Soccer Mom said:

Growing old is inevitable. Growing up is optional. And I ain't gonna do it. So there.

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Psst… You forgot a few hairs on your chin.

Smile when you say that, pardner!


scampers off to wax

For my part, if getting old means I care less and less about what young people think concerning clothes, music, language, popular culture, politics, and host of other things, then yes, I'm getting old.

Growing old is what I'm doing; I'm 56. I can't help it but I'm slowing down now. I'm starting to see the funny side of life whereas before, when I was in my teens and up until I was 35 I was very serious. Now I seem to understand everybody and I have a lot more time for people and their strange habits and ways.

My writing (21 short stories) and 2 books have just accumulated over the years so that now I have written a nice collection, through experience. I am terrified of becoming 70 and being called "really old".

There is an alternative and I would prefer it.


Barbara

I truly feel that what keeps me young is the wonder I still see in the amazing things around me. A beautiful red cardinal perched on my window and stared at me for a moment or two while I hacked away at my keyboard. I stopped for a moment in awe of the magnificent bird that took time from his day to see what I was doing and realized that if you can still see the wonder in all around you with an open mind you never age.

I'm almost 54. I've seen my broad mind and my narrow waist change places through the years. I've begun to understand why my mother's knees and back hurt - arthritis is a cruel master. I can't do the things I used to do in the time I used to do them.

And as much as I'd like to reassure you that it won't happen to you... I can't. It will.

Good luck.

Growing older is inevitable; growing old depends on your state of mind.

Hubby says that there are 3 types of older people: no-go, slow-go and go-go. I pray that I'll be go-go but am worried that I'm already getting to slow-go.

When I was a teen, my great-grandmother acted old (she was in her early 50s). My mother just became a great-grandmother (she is in her early 60s) and no way is she old.

I think, as a generation, the Baby Boomers are redefining old.

Time passes without our consent.

Hey, it's good to be a young man
And to live the way you please
Yes, a young man is the king
Of every kingdom that he sees
There's an old and feeble man not far behind
Oh, but it surely will catch up to him
Somewhere along the line

-Billy Joel-

Interesting post.

Growing old is, to a large extent, a state of mind IMO. There was a very interesting experiement done some time ago, where they took 70 year old men, and put them in a house togehter. The house was decorated in the fashion of 40 years previoiusly (i.e. when these men were 30). Also the food was 40 years ago food and so on.
The men had to speak to each other as if they were still 30, i.e. as if their parents were still alive and their children either not born or very young (whatever was true for them when they were 30).

After a few weeks these men had physical changes. Their height increased as they stood straighter. Their blood pressure dropped. Things like that.

I find that so inspiring.

Also I know that I'm still a young woman at (just turned) 43, whereas my mother was definitely middle-aged at that time. This is reflected in my attitudes, my actions, my clothing etc. (And not just mine - all of my generation are being like this).

Soccer Mom said:

Growing old is inevitable. Growing up is optional. And I ain't gonna do it. So there.

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PREACH SISTER!!!! PREACH!!!!!
Let's go to Monte Carlo and break a few hearts, shall we?

I may cultivate a 'salt and pepper' look once my oldest has the bad grace to make me a grandmother, (or 60...what ever comes first...better be 60 if they know what is good for them...) But I've already told both kids that I will personally teach their kids to call me 'Boss' or 'The CEO'. The other person's parents get to be called 'gramps'.

And when I'm 70, I'll do what my 'youthful' MIL did...learn to ski, possibly skateboard too.

And I'll pick up a couple of 50 yr old hunks for my amusement...

Good for you folks who refuse to grow old. Me, all I care about now is 1) a clean freaking house without toys and empty chip bags everywhere, and 2) a little peace and quiet with nobody fighting. I used to be a cool, loud, slob. Now I hate crowds, noise, and mess. Does that make me old, or just another tired parent?

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned."

-Mark Twain

When I was young I was fairly tolerant of people who had really bad taste in music. Now when someone pulls up beside me with the hippity hop playing and the car vibrating etc. I long to have something that I could use to educate them. If I only had a device I could fire from my car like some kind of netting that would encircle their car and then inflate completely encasing their vehicle. Once it inflated it would emulate a 2000 watt microwave on high. Once the occupant/occupants exploded all over the vehicles interior you just push a button and it all retracts back into your vehicle. These should come as standard equipment until the hippity hoppity is eradicated from the face of the earth.

RumpleTumbler said:

When I was young I was fairly tolerant of people who had really bad taste in music. Now when someone pulls up beside me with the hippity hop playing and the car vibrating etc. I long to have something that I could use to educate them. If I only had a device I could fire from my car like some kind of netting that would encircle their car and then inflate completely encasing their vehicle. Once it inflated it would emulate a 2000 watt microwave on high. Once the occupant/occupants exploded all over the vehicles interior you just push a button and it all retracts back into your vehicle. These should come as standard equipment until the hippity hoppity is eradicated from the face of the earth.

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Nasty (insane, drug dealing, trespassing, my-tree-cutting, etc.) next door neighbors' kids used to park in front of my house (not their own), open the windows on the car and blast Rap music. My reply was to load an opera CD (I only have 3) in my stereo and play at maximum volume until they left.

I don't care what people listen to but I don't need to listen to it too.

Problem solved.

My mother's 62 and she's morphing into a weird mix of old and cool. She just bought a bright red G6, she listens to the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, but she's alway complaining about what her neighbors are doing. It's truly bizarre.

I want to be a cool old person - someday. Although, I scared the hell out of myself recently. My husband listens to weird music - I don't know if it's alternative, punk, metal (bands like Korn - can someone help me out here?)

The other day, we were going somewhere and (I swear this was out of the blue) I said, "How can you listen to this crap? It's not music, it's just noise!"

I swear, I heard a needle actually scratch across a record, and absolute silence, followed by a few crickets chirping. He just looked at me and I clapped a hand over my mouth. The voice was mine, but the words were my mother....

'Old' always applies to people 10 years further down the line than you are. (Though from 90 onwards, these people get a lot harder to find.)

I'm in the "I'm never growing up thread." Even though I'm still really young, I've been known to get kicked out of kiddie playgrounds (when there were no smaller kids! facists!!) and do stuff that only 5 year olds would find amusing. Whatever. It's not like I'm in a hurry to grow up. It's not like I even want to grow up. Grow ups are so boring... it seems that as soon as people reach their 30 somethings they stop having fun. Beh.