When Does Being Old Start?

You can guess that I’m about to celebrate a birthday by thinking of age. Yes, I’m celebrating the 30th anniversary of my 39th birthday!

No doubt, the concept of Being Old is a matter of perspective. I’m sure my three year old granddaughter thinks of her eight year old sister as old. And our children, both in their 40’s certainly think their parents are old.

The older grandchildren are sure the only thing older than their grandparents is the Grand Canyon. One of our grandchildren once mentioned to me that history was their least favorite class in school. I commented that history was a class I enjoyed and one of my best. Their response was, “Papa, there wasn’t that much history to learn when you were in school”.

Some words we “oldies” knew with different meanings.

• Spam use to be something we ate.
• A tablet was medicine we took when sick.
• A handle was attached to doors.
• Tag was a game.
• A Troll was a creature in fairy tales.
• Tweet – A sound birds make.
• Cookie – Another food favorite.
• The Cloud was something we watch take on shapes in the sky.

Once we get past our 20’s we start talking about time passing too fast. I know for certain that as a child a week was at least 30 days long. Now a month seems to pass in a day…or less.

In a recent interview about his upcoming 79th birthday, Ringo Starr said, “When I was a teenager, I thought that everybody at 60 should be shot because they’re useless. And when I got to 40 my mother said, I don’t suppose you feel like that anymore”.

Sir Paul McCartney wrote, When I’m 64, in his teens for his father. It was finally recorded around the time of the senior McCartney’s 64 birthday in 1964. McCartney is now 77 and I’m sure he has a different perspective on age at this stage of his life. I had the pleasure of being the photographer for a concert Sir Paul gave in the ’90’s. A warm, funny and engaging man, he made all of us who came of age during the 1960’s feel like kids again. At one point, with a twinkle in his eye, he asked me, “Have you ever heard any of my music?” DUH!

I was recently at Home Depot when I saw a man approaching me wearing a t-shirt like the one in the above photo. I busted out laughing and told him that very few people, especially those under 50 would know what it represents. He said that people stop him all the time and ask what it is. I thanked him for putting a smile on my face with this memory from my youth. Do you know? If so, post a comment saying, “I know” or “I don’t know”. Don’t cheat and look it up.

Last year was the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation. Three days of remembrances were held in my home town. I noticed that most of the conversations centered around two discussions: reliving stories from our youth and talks of doctor appointments and medications. Another sad fact at my age is that I’ve attended way too many funerals. Not only beloved family members but people I grew up with and friends made in my early 20’s. It makes you face your own mortality.

The American culture is very youth oriented. I had written in a previous article about our oldest grandson requesting to live in the International Dorm during his first year of collage. During Christmas last year, he brought home with him several students from various Asian countries. I got into a discussion with them about cultural differences and they all agreed that their culture honors their elders more than the American culture.

As grandparents, we do enjoy spoiling our grandchildren. Things like filling them up with sweets before returning them home! We are blessed that they give us so much love and still enjoy spending time with us old folks. But I’m shocked to see that our oldest grandchild is now a young adult. Yes, we are a little slower than when he was born, but hope we are still young enough in spirit to share things with all our grands. We enjoy his calls asking to pick him up from his dorm so he can spend time with us….and get free food!

I recently did a Google search of drawings of old people. It struck me that most of the drawings showed sad faces. Yet many of the old people I know, which means anyone older than me, have much joy remaining in their life. I made a new friend this year. Mr. Tom is 93 years of age, lives alone, drives and lives a very active life when you consider his age. He came into our photography studio with some images from WWII. He was in the army and was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. An amazing gentleman who enlightened me with stories of his youth. Not many of these guys are around from “The Greatest Generation” who can give first hand reports of this period of history. My life was enriched by getting to know him.

On our 11 year old granddaughter’s 4th birthday, she walked into the kitchen while I was having breakfast. In her hand was a bottle of fingernail polish. She handed it to me and asked, “Papa, will you paint my finger nails and my FEET nails so I’ll be pretty for my party?”. I once asked her if she was going to let me do that on her wedding day and she replied, “Of course!”. This has become a tradition for all the granddaughters.

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Things like painting nails, trips, buying Krispy Kreme donuts for the grands, and my famous Papa Trips are all part of our personal Deck Chair Journeys. We know that for us, they grow up too fast. But we will try to slow things down to create memories that they will share with their children and grandchildren.

The older I get, the more I think about staying active. Now that doesn’t mean working a 40 hour week. I still enjoy doing things at our studio. But I’ve structured it so that I can enjoy life without the pressures of work I once had. And I schedule the amount of work I like to do in a way that allows us to enjoy the Deck Chair Journeys lifestyle that we share with our readers. A healthy balance of productive activity along with family time and trips. All designed to keep the body and mind active for as long as possible.

When I was approaching my 60th. birthday, I decided I needed to do something special. Something that would make me feel young. I made the decision to go Skydiving. This by a man who refuses to get on a roller coaster! Family and friends knew I had lost my mind. But I assured them my research had been done and I discovered that the skydiving company gave you a 100% chance of getting back to the ground. They just don’t say how fast.

Prior to leaving good solid ground you receive about 30 minutes of instruction. Explaining how I would be attached to my skydiving partner, the exit position of our bodies and how to position myself just before landing. At the end he asked if I had any questions. My reply, “For any reason during the last few days, weeks or months have you been seriously depressed?”. He assured me that he wanted to get home safely, just like me.

I’ll admit that when the plane took off, I wondered if I had made a mistake. And I’ve told many that there was that 1/10,000 of a second of pure terror as we went out the door of the plane. But after that, pure bliss. The next six minutes gave me a rush that lasted for days. Six months later I did my second skydive, just to enjoy the experience once more. Hard to imagine that that was nine years ago. Seems like yesterday.

“Older age” doesn’t mean being inactive. Developing new interest combined with more time to spend can open up new possibilities. In our younger adult years, most people have the responsibility of children. That means careers that limit vacation time. So finding things that create joy and most importantly, Deck Chair memories, will keep you young in spirit, at all ages.

I leave you all with a quote from Billy Graham: “Old age may have its limitations and challenges, but in spite of them, our latter years can be some of the most rewarding and fulfilling of our lives.“