One day baby , We’ll be Old

My gym instructor looks very young for her age (she is exactly 10 years older than me, but looks almost younger than me). She was saying how her aunt (who is very very old) told her that even though she (my instructor) had the body of a teenager , her face betrays her age. When she told me that, I responded by saying, I love being old and looking old. Those small wrinkles near your eyes, the lines in the forehead. I like them. She looked at me as if I have lost my mind and said that I am probably the only woman she has ever heard saying that. But then she doesn’t know that I have always looked older than my age since my early teens (people thought that I had a kid way back then… not that they don’t do now..but now, at least I am of that age to actually have a kid )

With all the talk about being old, looking old, I was surprised to find this quote in Twitter 

Don’t know why, but this quote and my gym instructor’s aunt reminded me of Lady Danbury of Bridgerton Series (Author: Julia Quinn). (If you are a fan of romance novels, then you should read this series, for sure. Do not miss it.) Lady D is one of my ever favorite characters in all the series that I have read. Want to see one of her dialogues ? 

With her cane and her loud thumps and even louder statements , she is a character to reckon. After watching Downton Abbey, I am convinced that Maggie Smith will be very very apt for that character. While doing some search, found this link ‘The Family Bridgertons‘ where you can actually suggest actors to the characters for a series and some one had suggested Maggie Smith / Meryl Streep for Lady D. Meryl is one of my very favorite actresses. But I guess in this case, I would definitely go with Maggie.

What do you think about being old, looking old or Lady D (if you have read the series) ?

PS: The title is from the song  ‘One day‘ by Asif Avidan

SoCS: Age is just a number

Age ain’t nothing but a number – they say. I always felt and looked older than my actual age. I behaved as one too. During one of our conversations in the fitness class, each one of us were telling the other about how long we would like to live. When I was in my 20’s I had this view that I will be completing my life’s important activities (like work,marriage – if that happened, kids – if I got lucky, own house etc) by 60 and then keep that as my age when I am ready to depart the world. Nothing much happened (or rather lot of things happenend and unhappened) but I think I would still like to depart by 60 or maximum by 65. I would like to and not that I would, just to clarify. And I would love to age gracefully, not in terms of looks but in terms of health mostly. I see my mom now at 62 and the various health problems she faces. It hurts me to see her struggling with one or the other issue. She is one of the primary reason I forced myself to join the fitness class and am trying to keep my health in check (and the other reason is the various injuries that I sustained last year). With so many kinds of health issues coming up, we are asked to get the regular health check for cancer related issues done especially when we reach 35 (and for women there are a whole of other checkups they suggest). And I am still trying to get them done even though I left 35 almost 2.5 years back. I have plans to do this by September, at any cost. If you reach 60, you are supposed to get a new Driver’s license because they are not very sure of your eyesight after that. My dad, who is almost 65, had to get it done a few years back. You are expected by the society to have a family and probably a kid on or before 30. One woman in my class was so aghast that I wasn’t married at this age (and I was too lazy to explain her that I once was). After all this I wonder : Is age still just a number ?
A man’s age is something impressive, it sums up his life: maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves. A man’s age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.  

This post is coming in a little early than usual (my early Saturday but probably a late Friday for the other hemisphere) and I am not probably coherent because it is too early, 4.15 am , for me. I will be going out on a day trip today and probably will be in very late, so I might not be able to respond to comments until tomorrow. See you all soon and stay safe.

---

Post for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.  Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: young, old, or anything to do with age. That’s it! Have fun!

SoCS Badge

---

Matter of Age

Recently I have started to wonder why I have friends who are much younger , say around 5-7 years younger, than me. And I don’t know why I don’t have enough friends within my age range. I do have some and they are my close friends too, but since they all have their own familial responsibilities and I am currently sort of a bachelorette (according to one friend of mine) I get to hang out with the like wise (aka unmarried/single) group. I ain’t complaining about that at all. I am all cool with it. I have enough experience with the younger group now because I have been friends with them for almost more than 6 years actually. And they are also my close friends. But recently the matter of age has become slightly prominent. I don’t know if this is because they all have crossed 30 and have entered into the next set , they are feeling bad about it and are trying to make themselves feel better by telling themselves that they aren’t the eldest in the group. Whatever. One guy told me that I was just 10 years younger than his mom (dude, I will never forget that in my life, and you said that during your birthday treat…that is so not nice and no , no amount of sorry will erase that memory…nope) and then the other day, the other guy announces to the whole bar that I am one of the eldest (thankfully I had two more in the same age as mine , I think I have to take the small small good things that happen occasionally to me and I was his designated driver for god’s sake). I never hide my age. I am proud that I am wise and elderly. That could be my way of coping with the aging process , you never know. And being the eldest in the family also makes me feel much more aged than usual [I still can’t believe that my brother and sister have kids of their own, because my brother still behaves like a kid himself most of the times] And again the other day, one person was unhappy that he isn’t the youngest in the group anymore because another friend who got transferred back , she is younger than him (and he did pout for that.. :sigh: ) . Yesterday was the worse. We got together for dinner after our fitness class and I had one girl almost 10 years younger to me and now, she was the one who wanted to know if she was the youngest of all. 

You can be 40 and still feel 20 ( and I know some people who feel like that and one among them is my dad and he always scowls if I call out his age) and be 20 and behave like 40 ( I always felt older than my usual age ). It is just a number. Yes, the more we get older, the more care we should be giving to our health and there are things that we cannot do physically. I always think age as a number is primarily for the body and not for the mind. If there is one thing I envy with young people with respect to the mind, it is the ability to learn anything faster. It is like their body. They are able to digest anything soon and the hunger to learn and do things. I felt that when I went to learn Guitar (I stopped after 2 years and haven’t touched it since then) and the whole class was filled with kids from 5 to 16. But that also gives me a renewed energy to continue trying. Oh God! Now I don’t know if this post became a rant or a incoherent collection of thoughts on age. Whatever. I will end this with one small poem (not mine definitely)

“Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” 
― Alfred Tennyson

Pop goes the balloon

Irony plays a very huge role in our lives isn’t. Today I rush to the training even after a heavy traffic exactly 2 mins before the start and catch hold of a seat at the back (just as I told yesterday) and what happens ? I am as awake as the sun. WTH!!!! I wanted to sleep or feel sleepy but nope and that is definitely not because of the trainer. It was because I was multi tasking with my work in between and concentrated on the specific topics which I could use help with. Well actually the post is not about that. Sorry got digressed a bit here  (am feeling slightly sleepy now) . So yeah, after the fully awake session, came to my yoga class only to be half an hour early. Slowly the other participants started coming in. Usually I am not the conversation starter and that didn’t change even today. This is how it went.

Woman1: (Looking at me) Are you an athlete by any chance ? 

[Background music: ‘clap along if you feel….’ by Pharell William – Happy song , starts to play in my head

Imaginative scene: A Balloon full of happiness being blown ] 

Me: Nope. (out of pure vanity I ask the next thing , I am allowed that once in a while aren’t I ?) Why do you ask ?

Woman1: Your height and your frame, I thought you were an athlete by profession

[Volume of the music in my head increases and so does the balloon’s size]

Me: Ah! Thanks , but no. I am just a software engineer.

Woman1: Me too, (then we find out we are from the same company , different departments, different buildings and we being women, the topic shifts to health)…..I am just waiting to get to 30 (age that is), so that I can do a master health checkup for women with mammogram and other cancer related tests.

Me: Yeah. I have been meaning to , but keep postponing it. 

[Volume of the music slows down because she told me her age as part of that conversation, but still the balloon was blown enough to float happily]

blah…blah …blah (and others arrive)

Guy1: Hey you know what, I finished my first exam in my undergraduation college and tomorrow I have another exam.

Woman2: Wow…college days…they seem so far naa..

Woman3: When did you pass out from college?

Woman2: 2006 yaa.. its been soooo many years…

Woman3: What.. you are that old?? Wow.. I cannot say that looking at you

[Pop goes the Balloon!!!! and the song slowly fades to another one by Asaf Avidan… One day…]

Woman1: Yeah… you look like might be still in college. 

Woman2: Wow..thank you..

(I am already closing my eyes, and trying to tune out everyone by then and since I cannot close my ears physically, I imagine turning it everywhere else other than this discussion…but no such luck..I was never, ever good at meditation and another reason is I don’t want them to look at me by chance and ask me my age, I cannot say that I am waaaaayyyy toooo old for them now after having that happy happy moment now , can I ? sigh )

Instructor arrives, thankfully, and session dismissed and class commenced. 

[I throw away the pieces of the balloon and switch off the music and get back to reality]