Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Getting older and not more valuable

Today is my husband's 40th birthday. (Happy birthday, honey.) My mother, upon learning this, commented that we [her children & their spouses] are all getting old.

My husband was watching a cartoon TV show where there was a flashback to the '60s and I asked if the '60s characters were the main characters' parents. He said, "grandparents". I did the math, and yeah, I guess that's right.

Not sure why, but I seem to be having a hard time remembering that I'm not the youngest adult generation out there anymore. I have relatively little responsibilities compared to my peers with kids, so maybe that is partly why. I am in good health, and have had some minor physical changes, but overall I'm pretty much the same.

In a culture that promotes youth and treats age like a disease, it's hard to get excited about getting older. It seems the greater your age, the less relevant you are in the eyes of today's North American society. So while I don't care that my age is x, and shouldn't care what anyone else thinks either, I know the irrelevancy train is going to slam into me sooner or later.

There are a lot of birthday cards with "getting older" jokes, but not a lot of "young & stupid". How about more of those, because there are some truly stupid young people out there today. I was careful not to get "over the hill" messages included in John's birthday party tonight. I think that is a negative and mean-spirited message that promotes our youth-based culture.

I wish we could trade in this part of our society for one which values its elders. Maybe then getting older wouldn't be a joke.

2 comments:

Liza said...

I remember when many women could not face turning 30, lamenting the loss of their youth at such a dreaded milestone. Today, it's turning 40 that becomes that large rock in the road. Fortunately, most people have learned how to navigate obstacles by age 40, so it's not the big deal it used to be.

The shock comes when one looks into the bathroom mirror and sees an old person staring back!! It's off-putting to realize that it is I occupying that square of relective glass because from within, I'm still that young, upbeat, got the world by the tail 40-year-old from last week. :-)

*tronchot

Jennifer! said...

LMAO....there should be 'young & stupid' cards...I totally agree. I'm about to hit 30 here in another year and while I know I'm still young...I can't believe how stupid I was in my 20's...I wasted those years away and now the grey hair and wrinkles are setting in and I'm wishing I could get the youthful look back to go with my more mature outlook on life. I'm just trying to be grateful for the youth I still have at this point. Plus I use Retin-A every day which seems to be working wonders on those fine lines. Too bad about the grey hair though...I need a dye job bad. Anyway...I totally rambled all over your blog. Sorry. lol.