When I turned 10 years old, my grandparents were 60 years old.
When I graduated from High School my parents were 42 years old.
At 60, my grandparents seemed very old. Although they were active, my child’s brain imagined they were ancient.
At 42, my parents were certainly old. How could they not be old? They “came of age” in the 1950’s. The songs playing on the “oldies” radio stations were from that era.
As I became an adult, the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s still seemed beyond the age I could ever consider young.
Last week I turned 51. My brain still has not adjusted. I’m still trying to figure out what “old” is suppose to feel like. I do have aches and pains, but I also workout regularly, walk great distances and yesterday I climbed a tree.
My expectation of 51 was not this. I am honestly not sure what my expectation of being in my 50’s was. Maybe by now I was suppose to be planning for retirement. Maybe my evenings were suppose to be spent watching television and getting to bed by 9:00PM. Maybe I expected to spend my evenings reading a good book or watching the grandkids.
Instead of settling in for the beginning of the end, it seems I am starting a great adventure. I no longer have the expectation of being old. My expectation is that I will remain young, as long as I choose to remain young!
Conversations Around the Tree 