Fifty ain’t so nifty…

“Age is only a number”! I used to hear that all the time when I was a kid and visited my relatives. The “older” ones, would always say things like that when they talked about getting old.

Something that has always fascinated me about age is when I look at my parents, no matter how old they were, they always seemed “old” to me. I can remember when my dad turned fifty and we gave him a party. I thought he was so old then. Now I think I must have been nuts to think that because I am that age now and I still feel like I am in my twenties. Probably how he felt then too.

A big part of aging is definitely a mental thing. Unless you are ill or in very bad shape, getting older happens so slowly that its hard to believe that you are old. I know this because when I look in the mirror, I see a very different version of the man I see in my head. If it wasn’t for reflections, I probably wouldn’t believe that I was indeed as old as I am. Getting older always seemed at least ten years away from where I am at.

I do however know what reality is. As a man, I know when I got old. Although I believed I knew when it happened, I wasn’t sure if it was just me who felt this way. That was until this past Saturday night, when a friend of mine mentioned to me the same thing I had believed was the measuring stick for when a man gets old.

He said that he knew he was old now because young girls don’t notice him anymore. When he said that I couldn’t believe it. He just said what I had thought was the reason I was old. I first noticed it when being in a bar. Girls would say “excuse me sir” when they needed to get past me. And worse yet, they didn’t even look at me when they said it. It used to be they would at least make eye contact with you. My friend said he realized it was happening about two years ago. We compared notes and both figured that for a guy, it was a true gauge to when we get old.

I sit in the chair and get my hair cut. The girl is maybe 36 yrs old and shes talking about meeting a guy. Her parameters are that he has hair, teeth and no more than forty because that would be too old. Wow, forty huh?? I laugh about it and say something and naturally she says that I don’t look my age but the point was already made. Forty seems to be the cut off to being young.

So my regular guy friends, get ready. Age will creep up on you and blindside you when you least expect it. One day shes cutting your hair and the next day she’s trimming your ear hair. Life’s funny like that. It takes hair from where you want it and puts it where you don’t.

So in reality, fifty ain’t so nifty but it’s better than the alternative. Anyway, by my calculations, I still have at least ten years until I…. get old.

The Regular Guy…

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6 Responses to Fifty ain’t so nifty…

  1. Vic says:

    Your friend is very insightful.

    I won’t consider you to be old until you change the name of your blog to “The IRregular Guy”.

    :>)

  2. Boomerang says:

    You need to start hanging out with people in their ’60s. 🙂

  3. admin says:

    cool icon…..i like it!!!!

  4. tv says:

    Couldn’t agree with you more. Age is just a number I like to think. My wife says I’m 52 going on 12 at times and at other times she says quit acting like an old man. That sir stufff drives me nuts. When I lived in SC most people were referred to as Ma’am or Sir not matter how old you were. To be honest, I really don’t like being called Mr. V___. That makes me feel uncomfortable. I always thought when I was younger I would like that, but it’s not that great after all. I tell my son to enjoy his youth and quit wanting to grow up and do the things adults do. There are times I do feel like an old man, but I still feel youthfull in my heart, or so I think anyway.

    Good article, regular guy!

  5. admin says:

    Hey TV…thanks for the input! Were all getting up there but at least we have each other to bounce this crap off of…Be good bubba..R

  6. Kevin Brown says:

    Well written article and I agree..

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