Does Anyone Want to Be the Age They Are?
We’re either too young or too old
We are always the same age inside — Gertrude Stein
I just left the grocery store. Two young women manned the register: one cashier, one bagger. The cashier looked at her friend and said, “I don’t want to be 19.” The bagger responded, “I didn’t feel any different.” I couldn’t help myself and added, “you’ll feel that way your whole life.” They both stared at me.
Before the trek to the store, I was talking to my brother on the phone. He told me about his wife’s cousin daughter possibly coming to visit. I asked how old she was, “in her mid-40's,” he replied. “Oh, “I said, “I forgot how old we were.” (Both in our 70’s). I was thinking a child of a cousin would be mid-20’s. “Yeah, she’s just a kid,” he laughed in response.
Healthy, active, and cognitively intact, I assure you I feel no different now than at 40. A little arthritis in my right knee from a fall fifteen years ago, more grey than brown hair, and a wider waistline, but basically the same. To paraphrase an old Chinese proverb, “the candle burns the same in the morning as in the night, the shape just changes.”
But I didn’t want to be 70, any more than 30. I know, I know what’s the alternative?
At 36, I drafted an article entitled, Birthdays by the Numbers about my 30th birthday and…
