"That old lady"

Mirren

I went for my Covid and Flu jabs last week( I'm 68 ) .
I sat in the queue wondering why I was sitting there with all these old people!

You probably weren’t the only person thinking that.

We're old to those young lads

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”.

Great post and well said! I think of getting older as lucky and the time left to be cherished unless one is seriously ill/in pain/dementia etc.
A few dear friends no longer have the opportunity to be fretful about ageing.

petra

Mirren

I went for my Covid and Flu jabs last week( I'm 68 ) .
I sat in the queue wondering why I was sitting there with all these old people!

You probably weren’t the only person thinking that.

Actually I was surprised at how many young people were getting the jab, I mean late teens early 20s and so on. I was looking at them and thinking they must have some condition that wasn't obvious and feeling sorry that they were there with the oldies.

I am 69 and as a friend of mine recently said, we are lucky to have got thus far. Some of our friends did not make that age. I personally don’t feel ‘old’ though sometimes when my arthritis pain kicks in I do!

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”.

I am not sure I entirely agree with this. I think the nub of the problem is that phrase 'stereotypical old person'.

The problem is that there is no such thing as a 'stereotypical old person'. The older we get the more varied we look. Even people in their 40s and 50s can be white-haired and/or (men) bald as a coot. while others are fresh faced, no grey hair and a full head of hair - and health to go with it.

At 81 (my age) I see people my age, elderly bent visibly aged people, with dementia in care homes and others, full heads of hair still standing tall, climbing mountains and and running keep fit classes.

The problem is sterotypes. When anyone expresses surprise when they realise my age. I just say, 'There are plenty of people my age looking like me. Stop being blinded by stereotypes.

As for clothing, I wouldn't recognise age-approrpiate clothing if I say it. it doesn't exist anymore. Older people wear whatever they like whenever they like.

We have a family photo, a few years old where a 12 year old, 45 year old and 75 year old are dressed almost dentically with clumpy footwhere, leggings and loose sweaters, different styles but all eseentially the same.

Why is it that everyone admires a gnarly ancient oak tree and not a gnarly ancient person?

M0nica - make me officially envious re no-one batting an eyelid then on you wearing leggings. You must be in a different part of the country to me - as I was on receiving end of a nasty comment yesterday implying I was in my nightwear!!!

I wasn't at all - I was in leggings and teeshirt and have been trying to think of whether I've ever spotted women in my age group wearing that in this area and can't recall any. Oh well - they'll have to think what they please - as I know that to be normal wear even for my agegroup - and it isn't in this part of the country, but it is in the rest I believe. I dress as per the country as a whole....

Cariadgagain I still wear leggings, with tunic dresses over them or big knitted sweaters. If someone told me to dress age appropriately I wouldn't have clue what to wear. Whether living in semi-rural Oxfordshire is very different to where you live, I do not know, but when photographed with DiL and GD I was in York.

But I never take any notice of rude people, tey are not worth tuppence halfpenny and there rudeness says more about them than it does about you.

M0nica

Cariadgagain I still wear leggings, with tunic dresses over them or big knitted sweaters. If someone told me to dress age appropriately I wouldn't have clue what to wear. Whether living in semi-rural Oxfordshire is very different to where you live, I do not know, but when photographed with DiL and GD I was in York.

But I never take any notice of rude people, tey are not worth tuppence halfpenny and there rudeness says more about them than it does about you.

I live in remote West Wales. The internet has obviously made some difference here - as there is a local historian that collects loads of photos of recent eras and I spotted one that was of a group of women from the Womens Institute going off for an outing - and thought "Oh yeah - taken in the 1950s by the look of it" - and then found it had been taken in the 1980s! But things have caught up more since the Internet became commonplace.

As you say - the rudeness of the woman concerned said a lot more about her than it did about me.

That was me dressed "conservatively" - but a lot of other women that I know personally round here (think they're pretty much all English??) dress in hippy fashion and that goes from about teenage up to about 10 years older (ie in their 80's) - as this area has a large group of hippies living here too (think Glastonbury and Totnes).

posset

Why is it that everyone admires a gnarly ancient oak tree and not a gnarly ancient person?

Oooh Posset!, I'm often found admiring an older lady with a bit of style or attitude. My children also comment on style whether the individual is 20 or 90yrs old. You are not invisible.,... style is timeless, ageless. 😎