Okay, So I Am Aging!

by Gretchen
(Tustin, California)

A couple of weeks ago, when I spent the night with my daughter because her husband was out of town and she had to go to the kids "Back to School" Night.

My granddaughter — who at five is in Kindergarten — and my daughter and I were walking home from their neighborhood school, and I said something like “Careful, sweetheart, watch where you are going!” as a pole suddenly loomed in sight of her while she was looking the other way. She grinned and said she was all right, but I had better be careful too!

After all, what would they do if I fell and hurt myself? Who would pick ME up? (HOW would anyone pick me up is the better question) How would they get me home? I joked that she could push me in a wheelchair and I could show her how to do wheelies.

But I said to myself: Good question! Never thought of it! This is how they see me. And perhaps that is how it really is!

I see myself as still young. And perhaps this is good because I therefore act younger (and fortunately I have the good luck to look younger—a bit younger—than my actual age). But it is not so good when you think this and suddenly you are made aware of how some people see you.

Your grandchildren think you are a relic. Even your children think of you as old — because they are not (and won’t be until after you are dead). And it hits you in the face.

And, there is nothing you can do about it. You can try to delay it, but it’s coming like a fast-moving train and I hear the whistle blowing. It is inevitable.

"Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" is no longer a funny song. But it is to everybody else, everybody who is under 40.

I had a dream the other night. I was somewhere, surrounded by 20-somethings, and I answered my ringing cell phone — in my dream I knew the person on the other end, who asked me a technical question of some kind. I answered as best I could, but concluded by saying, “However, you might want to check with someone else because I am not certain.”


When I hung up, this young girl called out to me, “You don’t know anything about what you just said on the phone,” and everyone laughed. I replied back, “When you were born you didn’t know anything at all. (Which, as soon as I said it, I knew was a ridiculous statement—but I plowed on.) And anyway, I have had more experience in life than you have.” She shot back, “Lady, THAT doesn’t matter any more!”

The next morning, as I sipped my coffee I reviewed this dream and everything that went on—and I realized she was absolutely right: Just because I am older and have more experience, if I can’t figure out how to plug in my computer, download songs onto some new item of equipment, or any version of the above, I am at a disadvantage.

Because right now, and in the future, this technology is and will be at the root of everything.

To the younger generation, working with this stuff comes naturally to them, and as far as the other stuff goes they can always look up what they don’t know on the Internet like grammar and spelling, and everything else).

The only advantage I have at this time in my life is that I need less to be happy — which, if you think about it, covers a whole lot of life.

Oh, and I can always HIRE someone to do the technology.

Wendy's Two Cents: Thank you Gretchen! Great thoughts... and yes, 4 weeks into my own retirement and I also need a whole lot less to be happy. Retired Life is what you make of it!