On Acting One's Age

[rolanni]

I have an awfully hard time remembering to act my age.

For example, I forget that my grey hairs entitle to me a chair, even when everyone else is sitting on the floor. I don't mind sitting on the floor -- in fact, I like to sit on the floor -- but it's always a jolt to see the Shocked and Horrified faces of the people around who suddenly want to scramble to find me "something to sit on" (What? I'm sitting on the floor. When did the floor stop being "something"?)

Is anyone else a chronological amnesiac?

Comments

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

Right up to the point that my sometimes decrepit body decides to notify me that in fact it doesn't appreciate me forgetting that I have previously broken it.

Sigh.

My head is still twenty five and my body seems to be about 75. Dammit.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Oh certainly. 60 really *is* the new 40. No one comes withing a mile of guessing the right age.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Yes. I still tend to want to sit with the kids at gatherings, and have to remind myself by their looks of horror to stay with the grownups where i belong, though I get so bored by sports and cosmetics, shoes, and shopping yadda. (this is at general gatherings, not fans!)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Remember "life begins at 40". Which I think means that you are entitled to act as a teenager *g*.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

I don't sit on the floor because I haven't been able to for years (my knees went out when I was 26, haven't had a pain free day since - meh), although I'd like to be able to do so. I'll be 47 in August and I try to remember to follow the profound words of my late maternal grandparents.

1. Talking to yourself is a sign of intelligence.
2. What did you say? I'm sorry, I don't speak that language. (referring to poor English)
3. You are not middle-aged until you are in your 70's.
4. Don't let someone else define what you enjoy. Only you know what you like and you should never let someone else decide for you.
5. Come here, you need a hug.
6. Have you read this book?
7. I expect you to do the best you can, after all God gave you a brain for a reason.
8. All children should be read to when they are born.
9. God loves everyone, after all, He made everyone in the world, regardless of their skin color, sex, or religion. He expects us to do the same.
10. I love you.

Refer to #4... so I don't really consider myself a chronological amnesiac... I just don't let myself be defined by someone else's standards. As my daughter says, "If I can still do it when I'm old, and I enjoy it, then I'll do it."

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I think knees are a strong argument against "intelligent design."

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. OTOH that fact does come in handy if one is confronted with someone of a, shall we say, malignant disposition.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

In my heart, I am still the 35-year-old (that's when I got my backbone); I was shocked yesterday to realize that I was almost 50. The knees do a good job of reminding me, alas. My work just got an influx of new grads, and they look like children to me. Of course they do -- they're only four years older than my eldest.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. Who the _hell_ is that person in the mirror? The one with the gray beard...

[lagilman]

Physical age? Hah. I have to stop and think about it, when asked -- I seem to drop 4-6 years off my mental tally on a regular basis.

(I actually did lose a year -- spent a birthday in the hospital hopped up on painkillers and never really remember that year-marker passing...)

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

When asked my age I have to stop, remember the year and do the arithmetic!
My mother was once on the golf course and mentioned to her pick up partners that she was 72, they all stopped stared and cried NO. She cherished the looks of astonishment they wore. But then she still had mostly dark brown hair - just a touch of tweed - when she died in her 90s. I just wish mybody felt my mind's age.

[zola.livejournal.com]

This happens to me all the time, especially as a programmer who is working with a bunch of twenty-somethings--I am definitely "one of the boys" but we all get startled on occasion when it comes up that I have children their age. (I'm about to turn 46)

I find I wonder where the time went, really, it didn't seem that long ago that my kids were tiny babies, and now they are all approaching the point of having families of their own. I have a sense of shock that undoubtedly at some point a few more years down the road there will be grandbabies...

I think that's the thing that I just love about the Internet--you can't have preconceived notions about what a person can and can't do based on their looks because you can't see them. When those friendships make the transition to real life, the relationship is established and the age just doesn't really mean much.

And it definitely contributes to my forgetting to act my age. :D

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I often forget my real age and have to actually calculate to firgure it out. I'm a couple decades younger than you, but I feel mid-twentiesh-thirtyish in my mind. Quite a few people who meet me think I*m much younger than I am.

And like the previous commentor, I think the internet is wonderful in breaking down age barriers. You often go by people's words alone and can find like-minded people who are several years younger or older than you and form friendships without ever actually meeting these people.

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

I prefer to think of it as being chronally transcendental.

Doc

[janni.livejournal.com]

Sit on the floor, I say. Let 'em be uncomfortable. :-)

I'm more disconcerted, actually, by the friends who won't sit on the floor, require the comfy chairs, and so on. I know that health issues happen when they happen and not everyone can sit on a hard chair or on the floor, but still ... I hope to keep sitting (and camping and sleeping) on the ground for some time yet!

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Hey, Jack Williamson sat on the floor when he was 70!! He was a wonderful man, and he was willing to dive in and be one of the youngsters.

[janni.livejournal.com]

That is heartening to know! (And means I potentially have decades of sitting on the floor to go!)

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I am often insulted and betrayed by my physical form and the lack-a-wanna it has for youthful indulgences. There is definitely a generation gap between the body and the 'alleged' mind. LOL

[groblek.livejournal.com]

I'm not yet old enough to be a chronological amnesiac, though I expect I will when I am old enough. As it is, I settle for being not of the current era. (Renaissance and Victorian dance/reenactment).

[onyxhawke.livejournal.com]

Age is a state of mind, and I'm well known to be out of mine.

dye your hair

[muehe.livejournal.com]

You ought to try a mosh pit. Actually, i feel old when i can not take it anymore and have to move to the back.
Plus, i swear i am the only one wearing earplugs when i go to a concert. The last time i did not wear them, i had ringing in my ears for 3 days. I hate getting old.