Aging on the Curve

Satchel Paige asked the question, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" Good, thought provoking, question. My simple answer is that you know you're old when you don't measure age by your years on earth anymore. Here's a few ways you can tell how old you are.

1. How old are your children and grandchildren? I figure that if they're aging, I must be aging too. My middle son is 30 today...or, as of about 12:15 he will officially be 30. I don't feel old enough to have two sons in their 30's. My youngest turned 27 this year and that made me think I should feel older. I don't, but I should. My oldest grandchild turns 10 this August. I remember being 10 and telling my mother she only had three years to teach me anything before I became a wild teenager. (Mom should have heeded the warning!) What is surreal is that I remember the afternoon so clearly, so it can't really be 48 years since I uttered those profound words!

2. What are your interests? Have you learned anything new or are you still at the place you were when you got out of high school? At the time I graduated, I figured I had all of the knowledge that any Johnson brain could hold and eschewed higher learning for a job. What a mistake! I didn't know at the time that as long as I lived, I'd be learning something. I should have taken advantage of the college opportunity. Not that it's too late! I read alot and over the years my interests have taken some interesting turns. I went through my craft season (remember tracing pictures on glass and then gold/silver-leafing them?...someone must still have the windmill I did). I organized the first two versions of our family cookbook complete with current geneologies and wrote songs and skits and poems in my writing phase. I sewed briefly and recovered my dining room chairs in my nesting years. I've recently discovered the joys of birding (did I mention seeing the green jays sitting on the javalinas backs last week?). If I don't keep moving and growing, I spend too much time thinking about how old I am and what hurts this week!

3. And how do you feel? Here's where it gets tricky. Being down here on the island where we have a great influx of Winter Texans and retirees, I've had a chance to see how well you can live and get around well into your 80's and beyond! I see women old enough to be MY grandmother out singing karaoke and dancing up a storm. I also know that with my aches and pains, I've felt like I couldn't possibly last another month! I've started walking and spending my evenings (not all of them) doing something besides sitting in front of the television. I'm trying to eat better. Why, just today I drank a low fat, low sugar Frappacino...100 calories and only 12 grams of carbs. It's not much, but it's a start!! I rarely feel just terrific, but I don't let that get in the way of doing what's good for me. Well, I mostly don't!

My body and my emotions seem to direct my age as much as the chronilogical years. I don't want to be a young, vibrant 58 year old woman trapped in a bitter, 90 year old body. I'm sowing happy thoughts and healthy patterns into my life now so I can be the 100 year old embarassment doing the chicken dance at my great-granddaughters wedding!