Awhile back I was at a kid's birthday party... two brothers, ages mebbe 6 and 8, (not the birthday boys) waged battle with balloons, simultaneously bonking one another, quite loudly, for quite awhile, complete with races around the coffee table, kitchen, dining room table, with real giggles, pink cheeks and sweat. Like the grumpy bastard on an airplane who hands out mean looks because he was certainly/probably never a kid himself - well, there were one or two of those in the room. After the 80th bonk (mighta been the 81st, I stopped counting) I hollered out (with SE'in grin) "QUIT ACTING YOUR AGE!!!!"
Ohhhhhh age.
"Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been." Mark Twain.
Daily, I down way too much coffee first thing... I watch the local news... drool a bit at how pretty Donna Pitman is.. and think whatinthehell to write about today. Trust me, it beats the hell outta getting up, wondering, whatinthehell am I gonna wear to work today, whatinthehell the roads are like, wheninthehell is payday I needs me some gas in the car...yada.
I thought about age. I like my age, and I think suffice to say most people in their 60's, 70's and beyond, feel similarly. I wondered aloud "when I was 9, did I like my age?" Of course I did, but I appreciate 9 more now that I'm 60-something.
I thought about High School... and how there was only one speed - all out fun. Hindsight, it was "Facebookish like".. She said what? He did what? Did you see that? Everyone's going Saturday night, you? Arguments. Jokes. Where silly is routine. Flirtation. One-upmanship. Flashmobs of the Stones, Diana Ross, Jimi, The Temps, Zeppelin breaking out in basements.. Ahhhhhh, fun. But did I/we know at 16, or 18, how much we enjoyed that age?
"Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young." J.K. Rowling
Trust me JK, we ain't forgot.
Newlywed age.. Good God Gerty, will there be this much sex my entire life? I'm tired but I'm loving it! (The answer is NO, so tape it, video it, so you can remember back to skinny, and to when you could move! Oh baby did you move!) JK, kinda sorta.. I think, er, I hope, we all appreciated, enjoyed that - but ain't sure it was the age itself we were in love with. Being 60-something, it's easy to be in love with 20/30-something. Life, pre Geritol. Yum.
40-something lines up to bring a proudness.. to me anyways. Instead of another attempt to burst the waterbed - one rolls over to his/her side in the # bed.. hugs.. spoons.. loves, but rests.. By 40-something, we've all been thru a few things.. A greater appreciation for loved ones, good friends, the paths of people..our own path.. But, did we really know how enjoyable 40-something was at the time?
"We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it." Jules Renard
By age 50, we have all that crap (tables, chairs, beds, lava lamps, pictures, posters, yada) that we thought looked so cool 20, 30 years ago - well, now it's in our basement.. or garage so when we keel it's our kid's problem, not ours!.. Should the need arise (say the grocery cart starts rolling towards someone's Caddy) we can still run - but only for short distances. We have one eye on yesteryear, and the other firmly peeking at wheninthehell do I get outta Dodge (work}? The really lucky ones have empty nest quietness, yet, lay in hopes of one day (again) having a 6 and an 8 year old running around the house bonking each other with balloons.
50, we've got a little bit more money. So we go, do. Honey, we're too old for sex, wanna go to Jamaica? We don't know how to behave at 50-something. We all think we've still got that little kid inside still, but we're completely lost in thinking about what it's gonna be like to be 60 or 70-something. 50-something really isn't appreciated enough, until we're 60-something - or so I've found.
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." Groucho Marx
About 60-something.. quoting that nerdy little Austin Powers "YEAHHH BABY!".. I friggin love 60-something. I have a greater appreciation for someone that's 3. I/we LOVE seeing them go thru the stage where we've see our own selves, and our own children go thru. Even better, when they get a bigass toy for Christmas, we get to watch mom/dad frustratingly assemble it. We hear our kids parent, and it's an echo of our own damnself, only with a wonderful smirk attached. (I'm reminded of the lady I followed for about five aisles in WallyWorld.. one tot outta the cart, grabbing everything in sight, one tot inside the cart, throwing everything that was put in the cart, back out onto the floor. With growing frustration, she chastised each, several times. "I'm not gonna tell you again" was in there several times. Finally somewhere around the 5th aisle she let out "God.. I sound just like my Mother." We get it honey, we get it.
You can't take 9, 17, 26, 38, 43, 56 from us. We've been there, done that. We might notta appreciated it then, but we sureashell do now.
At 60-something, we look in the mirror, and we don't care. We think back about how much we worried about our job, and now we don't care. We know we're slowing up a bit, but our hearts and eyeballs "Go like 60", tyvm Bonita Allen. It is damn hard to wipe ones smile off at age 60-something. We've seen it, done it, waded thru that crap - nuh uh, you ain't gonna get me to frown. I love life. I love 60-something. I've loved EVERY age, but this is the first time "I get it." (And hell to the yes the kid still lives inside!)
Mozart was composing at age 5. Shirly Temple was a movie star at age 6. Pele won the World Cup at age 17. Elvis was a superstar at age 19. Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity. MLK wrote the "I have a dream" speech at age 34. Rosa was 42 when she wouldn't give up her bus seat. Ford was 45 when the Ford T came out. Da Vinci painted Mona at age 51. Sully guided his aircraft into the Hudson at age 57.
I bet though.. if any of the above were granted life into their 60's, and you asked 'em, they'd pick that age as the best.
Dogs drool, cats rule (I jest), but 60-something friggin' rocks.
Jack Lalane, at age 70, handcuffed, shackled, towed 70 rowboats.
"Sex at age 90 is like playing pool with a rope." George Burns.
I can't wait!
Enjoy your day(s).......
By Henry Gibson LX-something
Love, Victurd
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