We turn elderly seemingly overnight.

[LuckyCharms]

I just watched some commercial (I forget what the product was) where two people jumped into a swimming hole.

I thought it looked like fun, and how I should do that soon.

Then, I realized that at my age, I would not survive the jump (which was not very high), let alone the landing.

My old body would be flappin' in the wind in an uncontrolled fall because just the mere act of trying to hit the water feet first would tax my arthritic bones and destroy any semblance of muscle control. Then I would hit the water and it would sound like a flat hand slapping a table.

We really do grow old overnight.

Here's 50 cents. You kids go see a movie. You kids have it easy...I used to have to walk through 10 foot deep molten lava for miles, just to get to get to a payphone. Get the hell off my lawn or I'll call your father and he'll beat your ass.

[democratisphere]

1. We are here for a brief moment in time, then soon forgotten.

[LuckyCharms]

2. yep, in x number of years...

No one will know we ever existed.

That thought somehow strangely soothes me.

[NNadir]

11. When he was young, Abraham Lincoln worried about that all the time.

He was after all, a backwoods laborer with no formal education.

People still know he existed.

[Zorro]

21. It's that awareness that makes the original Blade Runner movie a SciFi classic

Replicant Rutger Hauer's final lines:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

[zanana1]

34. Me too. But not only that...

When I realize that the Earth is just a speck in the universe, I feel mellow and less worried about things, including how old I am.

[angstlessk]

3. Time is relative to your age!

When you were four, another hour outside to play was a long time!

At age 60 a year flies by faster than that extra hour of play!

[LuckyCharms]

4. You know, I actually researched why time goes faster as you age.

This is the theory:

When you are 7 years old, a year takes forever to pass. That is because, as you point out, time is relative to your age. A year at that age is 1/7 of your existence, a large portion. Thus, it takes a long time to pass.

At age 60, a year is only 1/60 of your existence, so it seems to pass quickly.

I think I'm saying the same thing you did.

[angstlessk]

6. But you explain WHY time is relative..makes perfect sense!

[LuckyCharms]

7. .

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. It's more pronounced than that.

Though we may have faint memories from age 3, we don't really remember much before age 5. So your comparison is more truly 2 vs 55.

[LuckyCharms]

13. For me personally, even at an advanced age...

time seems to go by just a bit faster every year.

[RockCreek]

18. Do 5 year Olds remember more of being toddlers,

Or even infants (at least the associated sensations) than older children and adults? That would lengthen their perspective compared to if long term memory started at 3 years.

[Soxfan58]

5. I dont know

But a hour left of work goes on forever.

[retread]

35. Life is like a roll of toilet paper. It runs out fast toward the end of the roll.

[NNadir]

8. I use the following quotes all the time when addressing how wonderful it is to age:

"Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become, but your views become more expansive." Ingmar Bergmann

...and "The alternative to growing old is dying young." - NNadir

As I enter my last days, all I am struck with is how beautiful, how wonderful it is to have lived at all, pain, loss, and recovery included.

[LuckyCharms]

10. I agree. I joke about aging...

but I appreciate the fact that I am getting older. I wish I knew then what I know now.

[NNadir]

23. It might have been less fun if you knew then what you know now.

I spend a lot of time working to tell my sons not to do what I did, and mostly, to their credit, they often take my advice.

But I don't want them to live only with the benefit of my experience to the extent I can give it. I want them to be challenged, to make mistakes, and be, as it seems they are likely to do, be better men than I was.

They're both in college, both working hard, doing very well, but happily, they have their ups and downs.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

So keep learning new tricks.

[CCExile]

15. Can you teach an old dog old tricks?

I can't remember!

[colsohlibgal]

14. So True

Aging is insidious, the years seemingly go faster each year. You make peace when you reach a new age then before you know it you are the next age. It seemingly took forever to turn 16, 18, 21 but soon the years fly by.

In the whole scheme of things we are here for just a moment.

And when we die....we will either find out the truth of it all....or not.

[TNNurse]

16. I have a new knee and the other is not great.

I cringe at video of people torturing their knees in athletics. I would love to be able to jump across rocks in a creek again. But every step on an uneven surface is carefully considered and cautiously executed.

Youth is truly wasted on the young.

I will be 68 tomorrow. I am glad I was young when I was.

[Laffy Kat]

31. What gets me are people who over-do athletics.

The more active you can be, great; but understand that joints don't last forever and repetitive motions take their toil. Running and skiing are going to wear-down your knees, hips, etc. and you'll find yourself needing replacements sooner rather than later. Play, but don't over-do and you will enjoy your body longer. I was a avid walker for years but I over-did it and had a hip replacement at 50. Kind of wish I had taken it a little easier or switched to swimming or cycling at some point and used a different set of joints. It's common sense.

[packman]

17. A merciful God would have given us two lives

One to learn from and the other to live and use those lessons.

[Bayard]

19. It is quite sobering

Realizing that you have less life ahead then you do behind you.


And you still haven't paid off your mortgage.

[justhanginon]

20. I get up in the morning, first wonder, what is going to hurt today and then proceed to

wander unsteadily into the bathroom, look into the mirror and and I am like, "what the hell happened". 80 years of living does take it's toll.

[lillypaddle]

22. I knoooooooow!

I hate that my skin has gotten like crepe paper, and is so thin, especially on my arms. Don't touch me or you'll leave a giant bruise!

[world wide wally]

24. As I always say, you either get old or you don't.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. Indeed.

I wake up every morning, glad I actually woke up at all, and sort of unfold myself rather than just stand up like I used to; then things kind of hurt until I've walked around a little. I remember doing things like bicycling, running a 5K race, even swimming in a lake (that activity would probably get me harpooned by mistake), and I figure that I'd just hurt myself if I did that stuff now.

And time does fly. Just yesterday I was talking with an old friend (old, like me) about how when we were little kids we'd be waiting with bated breath for Christmas to come, and it seemed to take forever, and every day we'd open one of the little doors on the Advent calendar, and it would be one whole day closer! Now it's just like, oh hell, is Christmas coming again, it isn't even Halloween yet, and when am I going to get that holiday crap done?

Spring just came a few days ago, it seems, and now it's October. Maybe that's a metaphor.

[bitterross]

26. Funny you mention that

I just went to the optician yesterday to buy new glasses. In explaining that the price of bi-focal or progressive lenses is so high the very young woman made the statement "It's expensive to get old."

Funny, but, until that moment I didn't feel old.

[Binkie The Clown]

27. Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the hell happened. nt

[SwissTony]

28. For years, I didn't look like my age.

Everybody thought I was younger than I was.

Then age caught up with me. I now look like my age (66, going on to 67).

So, if I reach 85, will I look like I'm 100?

[WhiteTara]

29. How shall I compare this life of ours?

Before I can say, Dewdrop, lightening flash; it is no more.

[Skittles]

30. you want I should kick your geezer ass, LuckyCharms?

LEMME AT YOU!!!

[raven mad]

32. Add 40 below to the molten lava, and no boots.................

[sprinkleeninow]

33. Where was I.

Oh yeah--
"My get up an' go got up an' went." 😯

"When I was yer age I had to walk to school five miles in the snow, in my stocking feet!"😩

I don't feel old. I feel ripe.😆

Dammm whipper snappers today! (JK) 😠The kiddos are just alright with me.😊

[rurallib]

36. you seem a bit cranky today - did you miss your nap?

oh that was a low blow - I just got up from mine a bit ago.

The one thing that keeps me from thinking of my aches and pains is worrying about the world my kids and grandkids will live in.

Just turned 68 last month.