Aging Reflections

The Kids Of Parenthood Now - Thanks For Making me Feel Old

I felt really old yesterday.  I was cruising around the internet and ran into one of those “where are they now?” sites.  This one had the cast of the Parenthood movie.  This is one of my favorite movies and one of the best things about it were the kids.  The site I looked at yesterday showed a grown Kevin as a middle aged golf caddy and the youngest kid who wore a pot on his head and ran into things as an obese loser (I’m sure he’s not but that was what the picture showed).  I felt I’d lost something by seeing them like this.  I always heard that youth is wasted on the young and as I get older I definitely understand where that “old” saying came from.  I posted a picture yesterday of my son and I where I look like I have this huge head.  I remember thinking the same thing about my father (paternal revenge?).  Time is an inscrutable enemy with no mercy on a guy who still thinks like he did when he was thirty.  I was going to say twenty but we both know better than that.  I was getting into the pool last night for my workout and there were two young ladies to whom I was absolutely invisible to.  That would not have happened twenty years ago (I tell myself that), but again, that was twenty years ago.  Now I see condescending looks from the staff who thinks it’s nice that a gray haired old geezer like me is still trying to work out.  I see younger people who choose a sedentary lifestyle locked behind a computer and think – you’ll have plenty of time to do that later in life.  When you’re young enough you should be out there pushing the envelope, climbing mountains, hiking, jumping over things, enjoying the physical capability that will fade all too soon.  There will be time to watch all those movies when you get older – get outside and be young!  I never had this problem when I was younger because the Army was always ready to ensure I was fully accessing my physical abilities, whatever they were.  As I got older and those abilities began to wane it became obvious to me that it was time to leave the military.  I think I’m giving it a good fight as I descend through middle age and will keep getting out for climbing the odd mountain when I can and hiking, but it used to be so much easier. 

Big Headed old Dude