When I was a little girl, I don't remember thinking 30-something was old. My grandmother, with her white hair, soft wrinkled skin that I loved to stroke, her stockings rolled and tied just below her knees, the snap-up-the-front flowered "house dress" as she called it, and her refusal to wear a bra (guess she was ahead of her time in that department) made me think Grandmother was old.
A few days ago, I'm driving my grandson to camp. At six years old he tells me he wants to become a boy scout. It's never been discussed before so I ask why. "Because I want to help little old ladies like you across the street," he answers while I smother a laugh.
What is old? Old is experience. Old is saying, "No I don't want to serve on that committee." Old is accepting that a size 6 is way out of my league and that's OK. Old means comfortable is better. Old means family and close friendships come before anything. Old is giving up the type A stuff of life at least some of the time. Old is understanding that God loves me anyway...and other people accept me for me...why didn't I know this earlier? Old is liking big band sounds and 50's music, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. It's thinking Singing in the Rain and The Sound of Music are two of the great movie musicals of all time. Old is before special effects and the words "geek" or "techie." It's a coke float at the Woolworth's counter.
It's all those things and more. And to a little 6-year-old with green eyes, I'm old and that's a good thing.
I L O V E this post! Happy birthday...to you. I will "amen" to each one of your items from start to finish (I turned 66 in May), and I'm thrilled to say "family does come first", and "saying no to a committee"...and yes, the big band sounds and 50's music fit right in to my life too. How sweet your grandson wants to help you even if you are "old". My GM didn't wear a bra either!! LOL
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