Friday, September 8, 2006

"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened." ~ Jennifer Yane

Yesterday at work we were discussing birthdays and the whole concept of getting old which is an obvious consequence of birthdays. However, even if one makes the declaration that they "aren't having any more birthdays!", as a lot of women seem to do when they get to be a certain age, that certainly doesn't stop the aging process and only cheats you out of presents and maybe a little extra attention!

Jennifer, a scheduler, said that she really thought that when she eventually got there that she was going to have a lot of problems with turning 40 (I think she's either in her late 20's or early 30's now so she's not in danger of getting there anytime soon!) and I told her that 40 really wasn't a problem for me - once I got past 45 though - that was a completely different story! But it wasn't that I felt old mentally, it was that physically I seemed to start breaking down all at once. My back began to give me major problems, I felt tired all the time, and my energy levels dipped to sub-zero levels. Up until I turned 46 I felt pretty good for the most part with only the standard aches, pains, and ailments but after that ... thank goodness I have semi-decent medical insurance!

But except for my physical body's obvious problems, I just don't feel that old. I'm not sure how one is supposed to feel at my age, whether I'm supposed to be mature and ultra-responsible with no room for screw-ups or whether it's okay to still do stupid things from time to time and like the things I still liked when I was younger.

Does growing old necessarily mean growing up? I think that's what Jennifer's major concern is - she said that she doesn't want to grow up but, I hate to tell her this, Jennifer is a probably a lot more grown up in some areas than I am. I think we all have our areas where we've grown up more than others - where we've matured more than people who are older than us - and we also all have our areas that are the opposite. It's those things that make us who we are. I don't believe that there should be any standard textbook definition of where we need to be at a certain age. Be unique - be individual - be you - no matter how many years you've been on this planet.

Tomorrow is my 48th birthday - do I feel two years away from 50? Physically - yes, I probably feel older than that! Mentally - no, I have to say that I honestly don't. With my family genetics, I've probably lived well over half of my life now but that doesn't mean that the next half - or what's left of it - doesn't have a lot of potential, a lot of room for a lot of good things to happen, a lot of room for growth.

To paraphrase the words from a Tim McGraw song ..
I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age...
The ending of an era, and the turning of a page...
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here...
Lord have mercy on my next ???? years...


  1. Anonymous9:54 AM EDT

    Happy Birthday

  2. Happy birthday to you
    Happy birthday to you
    Happy birthday dear Linda
    Happy birthday to you!!!!

  3. Anonymous1:49 PM EDT

    Jenn is older than you think!


Thanks for visiting!