I stopped reading and thought for a moment. How true that is! How many times do we see an older person wearing something best left to a college student and thought to ourselves "what is THAT?"
I remember going to clubs and seeing 40-somethings on the dance floor and thinking unkind thoughts. Now that I'm up there in age I wonder what would people think if I showed up at a club?
The other day I was waiting on line at a restaurant. There were 4 kids in front of me. (I hate to say kids, they were probably 17 or so, it's hard to tell anymore, the older I get. Sigh.) Anyway, they were wearing their velour sweatpants and Ugg boots and lacrosse varsity jackets. They were giggling, the girls were smooching their boyfriends and gazing into each others' eyes as only the angsty teens can do.
I hated them.
I wanted to be young & carefree, smooching my guy, with no weightier problems other than final exams and "does this shirt match these pants?"
I sighed to myself and immediately conjured up the thought that I had plenty of fun when I was younger, tempus fugit and all that, and I'm now experienced, wise & savvy. Obviously I was trying to talk myself out of the pathetic envy pit I had fallen into.
It wasn't working.
Today's teens are hip, well dressed, technologically advanced (compared to when we were teens) and very cool. Even though I have an iPod, go on FaceBook and Twitter daily I still feel like a dinosaur. This is not good.
We never did get to eat at that restaurant. The line wasn't moving and it was getting quite near to 8 o'clock and American Idol time, so we left. I'd like to report that I stopped being disgruntled about my lack of youth but obviously it stuck with me, hence this post.
To make matters worse, today in the mail I received a party invitation for a friend's 50th birthday party. I have known this person for over 16 years, but to hear that he just turned 50 made my mouth drop open.
We are all aging, whether we like it or not. I guess the important thing is to stop worrying about it and make every day count, to make memories at every age.
I will try to remember that the next time I see some giggling teenagers.
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2 comments:
oh yeah. I remember vividly years ago playing basketball at Roosevelt Park and seeing these "old guys" show up and thinking why can't they go somewhere else to play. And all those years of playing Recreation league ball against guys half my age and beating them no less. I think what is different about my heyday and my parents' is they were already "old" young. The depression and WW II did that to them. Just look at pics of your parents and you at the same age and see if I'm wrong.I guess nowadays the older folks seem to not act their age partly because "your Mama does dance and your Daddy does Rock and Roll". But there is truth in "youth being wasted on the young"
Hey, so I'm definitely seeing a theme in your most recent posts. The past, our age, and all it's woes..but here's a thought...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY
Daria!! ;-)
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