Wedding receptions

My DGS1 says "Nan is old" but Granny is "really old", I'm 62 & DM turns 89 this month. We are definitely the "older generation" in our small family unit

Oh Kim19 that did make me laugh!

One of my in-laws is from a culture where the terms 'Auntie/Uncle' (no other names just one word) are used as a term of respect for older people. The first time that I attended a function where all those of my children's age (30s/40s) referred to me as 'Auntie' (with respect for their elders obvious) was a bit of a facer... . I've got used to it now - & I like the fact that they're all so polite to me...

On boarding a bus the driver was remonstrating with a couple of teenagers for messing around. 'You might have hurt that old woman'. I had been upstairs for about seven minutes into my journey wondering if I hadn't noticed someone else getting on. The penny dropped and it makes me laugh every time I think about it. To see ourselves as others see us right enough!

I remember from childhood miscellaneous elderly people at family gatherings; great aunts and uncles, friends of my grandparents. They all looked alike and I was never quite sure which was which and what their relationship to me was.

We went to a family gathering with friends so close we see each other as family and I could see her DGC looking at DH and I in just the way I used to look at miscellaneous elderly people at family gatherings at their ages.

At family gatherings now, we have moved up the chain to be the oldest in the room. It's great. We're guaranteed a good seat.

I suppose the point I was trying to make is about the way old age creeps up on you, taking you by surprise. One day you think of yourself just as a person, like everyone else, then suddenly you realise that other folk must be seeing you as an old person.

Wddding receptions are one of the few social occasions where you see the whole range of age groups socialising together, but the oldies, the grannies are in a minority. They fill a niche. I never saw myself filling that role until it happened, and it was a bit of a shock.

Lipstick??? Where did that come from?

I'll bear that in mind.?We have just booked my daughter's wedding reception. Lipstick

It’s a shock isn’t it. The only positive is at least we’re here to witness these wonderful events unlike some of our peers. I watch as my own children move to centre stage as I move out.