Life Lessons

How Old You Are?

How Old Are You? How Old Do You Feel?

I love this Aunty Acid meme and every time someone talks about age being just a number, this image pops up in my mind. Every time someone says that people expect you to behave a certain way because of your age, this image pops up. Seriously, how old are you and how do you know how to act a particular age. 🙂

A couple of incidents that happened in the last month led to the genesis of this blog. Read on and let me know how old do you feel you are.

How often do you meet a 91-year-old in a fitting room? And, how often are they hunting for a white blouse for her striped navy blue pants? 

Not very often, right? That is exactly what I thought! 

I was inside a fitting room of a store, waiting for my daughter. I see a lady stepping out of the trial room and looking at herself in the mirror. She was trying to decide if she liked the t-shirt she was trying on. I liked what she was wearing and told her it was a good pick. She said she was hunting for a white blouse and had visited every possible store looking for one. 

“When you get old, 91 to be specific,  things on your body shift places and it is hard to find fitting clothes,” said she, pointing her fingers to her hips and her slightly shifted buttocks. Said she has a pair of striped navy blue pants and wanted a white blouse to go with it. Not very happy with this find, she planned to keep looking. 

She stood smartly dressed, with manicured hands, looking through her glasses, and flashing a beautiful smile. I wouldn’t have guessed she was a day older than, let’s say, 70! 

I recently visited a dear friend on her birthday. She loves plants and spends hours in her garden and so I bought a beautiful flowering plant with me for the visit. When I wished her, she said she turned 71 that day and she felt like she was in her 40’s. We spoke about her plans for the birthday weekend, her dreams of visiting some beautiful gardens in Europe once the restrictions were all lifted, her meetings with her Weight Watchers group, and her workout routine with her personal trainer. Leaving her home, I thought – I don’t think my conversation with a friend in her 40’s would have been any different. 

I had a fun birthday week last month. Turned 42, and I haven’t felt better. Enjoyed kayaking, parasailing, biking in the valleys of a national forest, hiking, and being on the road for hours. I was on a road trip with family and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my birthday week! I felt I was at the “right” age. Couldn’t associate a number to the “right”.  

During an interesting family conversation, we started to converse about the fact that we know our parents are growing older, we see our kids growing up and getting bigger, but we often fail to notice the changes that happen to us with every passing year. We remain oblivious to them for as long as we can! So true, isn’t it! Of course, there are changes – physical and emotional. We cannot dispute them. But those changes need not weigh us down.

Just as a veteran takes immense pride in showing off the scars of his old battles, let us take pride in our superpowers. By superpowers, I mean the increase in confidence, the ability to make better decisions, the prowess to choose what actually matters and what just doesn’t, the wisdom to forgive and forget, etc. These are the results of the battles that we have fought and are directly proportional to our age and experience. I would be naive to say that we always use our superpowers and we never make any wrong decisions. The point is – wisdom comes with age and experience and it is always at our disposal to be utilised.

Wally Funk said she felt like she was 24 when she was told that she will fly to space on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20 as an honored guest. Kudos to the 82 year young Wally and the likes of her. It is such a pleasure listening to her talk about the whole mission.

Before she left the trial room, my 91-year-old superhero said with a wink, “Growing old is not for sissies, honey!”. 

I couldn’t agree more. Each of us will get older. But as long as we don’t stop dreaming of visiting that dream garden in Europe (or anywhere else in the universe for that matter), we can all still feel the age we want to feel. And as long as we are willing to go after that perfect white blouse to wear with our striped navy blue pair of pants, we are good. 

I am not unmindful of the fact that some of my readers could feel otherwise. They are probably just overcoming the loss of kith and kin, or dealing with a particular health situation. I hear you my friend and I pray that you overcome the situation sooner than later. None of the people I mentioned above have had it all easy. They have all handled various situations, and live their life despite everything. So just hang in there, and things will change.

Wishing all of you good physical and emotional health to grow older and wiser in style! 

Image by M W from Pixabay

If you like stories with a twist, related to birthdays and age, read the story – The Birthday Party.