"That old lady"

Remember starting work in a bank at 16 and being told how much I might be earning at 21.

21!

The manager could have said 91, it sounded so far away.

Now, of course, five years flies by in the blink of an eye.

I remember one of my children in primary school saying their teacher was ‘old’- she would have been in her early twenties and very young looking ! All in the eye of the beholder I guess. As they say, you are as old as you feel. Some days I am 20, some days I am 70.

I shop in Lidl, I’m 5’1”, so have to climb onto the bottom shelf to reach the stuff on the top, lots of people also do it. Suddenly, everyone wants to help me, they haven’t got the last five years. Suddenly I am old, I appreciate it, but you have to be careful in Lidl and make sure stuff is in date. So I politely refuse and carry on. I tell them my next trick is to swing from the light fittings . I’m 79.

My memory is not what it once was . I don't recognise people who I ought to remember.
I wonder if I have dementia but a younger friend says it's normal with ageing. I'm 76 but others my age don't seem to suffer.
I try to keep healthy so I can keep doing the things I like.
When I was 13 I desperately wanted a pony. Now I wonder if I'll need to wait until I'm 80!

My 95year old mother is living with dementia and sometimes thinks I'm her sister. One of my sons commented jokingly that it must be because she can't believe she has a daughter as old as me. Oddly for me, this made me feel old.

I don't feel old but I must be as my daughter is a grandmother

GrandmaKT That is a good one! You'll be on your 3 wheeler now!

At the age of 65, my brain is in it's 20's but my body is in it's 80's unfortunately.

Babs03

I felt old when first was told by a GP 'oh that can happen a lot with age', since then this has become a regular mantra from the medical profession. Am in my late sixties and consider myself not bad for my years but what if one day a GP says this and it actually isn't because of my age but because I actually have something rather nasty wrong with me?

The first time a doctor said that to me I was 30. I'd been in a car crash and for some reason my injuries were age related. Bit weird.

My beloved grandchildren now call me Nanna Oop - officially old person. We laugh!! It’s OK.
In fact, it’s great and also inevitable
x
😊

heavenlyheath

This isn't a coment of growing old but the other thing mentioned in first comment. Supermarkets letting young people pack your groceries to raise funds this happens a lot coming up to Christmas I hate it they have no idea how to pack your food stuffs.

That’s one thing I won’t miss this year. I do scan and go, whatever it’s called, at Tesco.

Thinking about the Falklands war today and suddenly realised that it was 42 years ago!! I still think of it as as recent conflict but if course it's not, and neither am I at 81!!!!

I was admitted to a stroke ward where I observed other patients apparently dying in comas with their mouths wide open I assumed I was one of those .

At the other extreme of life I was seventeen and one of the
other new entrants was twenty -three, so I felt it would be unkind ever to mention her advanced age

I was 76 last week and feeling quite depressed about it. My daughter told me to snap out of it saying it’s just a number and you aren’t old mentally! Had a lovely lunch out with DH and then daughter and granddaughter came up in the evening for a glass of bubbly and we caught up on what granddaughter had been up to. I also remembered that neither my mum or my sister reached 76 so I count my blessings.

I mostly feel younger than 75. Until today when I read Richard Chamberlain is now 90....ooooooh. Dr Kildare and The Thorn Birds. The lovely Rachel Ward Meggie is 67. How can this all have happened when I was looking the other way!

Still waiting at 68! 🤣

MissAdventure
When I got ill.
I know what you mean MissA. I’ve been rather poorly since January Before that I was still running around after family, going out with DH and generally getting on with life as I always have. I’m beginning to feel better, but I feel it’s going to take a while before I’m back to me. We don’t seem to bounce back quite as easily as we did when we were younger. I’m not one to give up though. Could just do with going abroad for the winter. That would do the trick. ☀️

Just looked at the birthday cards on my mantelpiece and noticed my DD's one which says 'Don't think of 70 as old. Think of it as retro!'

Farzanah

We live in a youth oriented, appearance obsessed culture, where there is a stigma and fear about old age, therefore understandably I think, many older folk strive to appear younger.

It seems to be a matter of pride to be told that “you don’t look your age” or dress/act like a stereotypical old person.
I think we should reclaim the word “old” and admit it (it’s not just a number) and glorify in it, having lived to reach this time of life, relishing what is left, instead of being in denial.

I am 78, out and proud about it, and if anyone says that I don’t look my age I retort “this is what an old person looks like”.

Yeah! Embrace it that’s what I say.I’m not a pensioner as yet but look forward to any freebies or reductions going.
I will get a stick to wave threateningly at noisy kids and barking dogs.
Read the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph.🤭

MissAdventure

When I got ill.

I injured my knee in early May this year and was incapacitated for a while. I'm still not completely pain free, so although my mobility isn't restricted day to day I now do the shorter 'Simply Walk' rather than the longer one. Until this injury I was feeling younger and fitter than I had in years, having lost a lot of weight and become more active since retirement. I reached 70 just over a week ago, and the recent slowing down has made me feel physically old, but I'm not old in my head!

I’m 78 and felt reasonably young until 75 and then a switch was flipped and I now feel passed it. When I am with my grandsons I attempt to be bright and breezy. I wonder if I fool them. 😏

My 104 year old mother who died a couple of weeks ago never accepted she was so old. In fact on her 104th birthday we had a cake made with her age on it. I took it into the care home but on arrival was stopped and told they too had one made with 85 on it! They explained she never accepted she was that old and to prevent WW3 decided to put 85 on the cake! She always had a young outlook very happy and said age is just a number!

When I turned 60 it was just a number. The same year my daughter celebrated her 30th & for some reason it made me fill really old.💁

A friends little daughter asked her "Mummy were there cows when you were little "

well I feel old when I try to get out of bed in the morning, because everything's sore and my knees don't work, I'm 79. but in my head I feel young, so at least I still have a part of me that's young..