How old is old?

My wife and I have been having an ongoing argument about age. Well, it's not really an argument because I'm not allowed to say anything about being old without ridicule and derision. I believe that we're getting old, together, at the same time. In fact, when I fell in love with her, I picked her knowing that this condition would happen and I still chose her everyday. By the way, she chooses me everyday she comes home to me and I know how lucky I am that she continues to choose me.

However, ignoring the issue of age won't make it go away and pretending the we're not aging won't stop it from happening. I am a romantic realist and know the neither of us wants to be old, but let's face it folks, ain't none of us getting outta here alive, despite what you may have been told at the door when you bought your ticket...

I know I can't solve this riddle, and I'm not looking to settle this "argument" between my wife and me, but I am interested in what other people think about this question of age. I really don't want platitudes quoted like, "you're as old as you feel" or "if you have your health, you have everything." That's all good stuff and most of it is true. But, day to day, how old I feel changes depending on how I may have abused my body the day, week, or years before.

So, what do you consider old? I'm approaching 60 this year and I feel about 30, most of the time, as long as I don't look in the mirror. What about you?

 

in my head, old is about 70. this is my reasoning after taking my human development classes. it also makes me feel better about myself as i approach my mid 30s, lol!

 

I tell people I don't do too bad for 53...unfortunately I'm only 43.

I have...damn can't see the keyboard, it just hit me...please hold.

I have almost outlived my father, who died of cancer in January of 1991 at the age of 44. Before his last bout with cancer I would have said he was young, young for his age. 2 years later he looked older than his father who was 80 and acted at least that old.

There are 100 year old people who still drive (there was one last month at the DMV when we got my daughter her next level graduated license). He looked frail but was spry and spritely and very much alive and well.

Some mornings I wake up and jump out of bed. Others I just want to roll back over and disappear. My left knee makes a creaking, clicking sound when I climb stairs (but the doctors can't find anything wrong). It doesn't hurt but...should it sound like that? Methinks no.

I have three kids and two are teenagers and the oldest is going to College in the fall. How in the HELL did that happen? I just got married...um...damn, that was 21 years ago in May.

How old do I feel? The years don't really matter, or at least that is how my wife and I try to act. We can still do most things we did when we were "younger" or had fewer years under our belt, but like you, we're aging together. Neither of us can really outpace the other (I have longer legs but she can walk longer), we enjoy enough of the same things to want to stay in each others company. Age? What's another year really? I heard Rush talking about his birthday and while he's a blowhard he made a good point. He doesn't like birthdays because they celebrate a non-achievement. Hey, congratulations, you didn't DIE in the last 365 days! So what?

I celebrate my birthday like everyone else but I don't go overboard, didn't have a big blowout at 40, won't at 50, don't plan on retiring at 65. Once you turn 21 and can drink and 25 and the car insurance rates go down, what's the biggie?

I'm rambling because I'm impatient...interesting, I rambled in high school because I was impatient and didn't want to take the time to collect my thoughts.

My wife and I look at it not as getting older, but having more experience. Are there limitations? Sure, I stay off the trampoline and I have to work a little harder to keep the gut in check, but we're doing it together. We're happy. We've experienced a lot and hope to experience a lot more. We have kids that we see growing and learning and...experiencing as they...okay fine, they get "older" but again, look out 18, 21 and 25!

Live your life to the best of your ability. Don't accept arbitrary limits but recognize the changes in your body and life and then continue to live your life. Age is just another change, it's just another "phase" and potentially another challenge for you to grow and continue learning. That's not a platitude, it's how I really feel.

 

I think I have good genes. My dad died at 85 even though he was a heavy smoker until age 65. My mom never let him smoke in the house. So when he retired at 65, he quit cold turkey.

My mom is still going strong as she approaches her 94th birthday.

Me, I married a younger woman!

 

61 here wife 59. Feel younger than that and most folks believe I am in my 40's cept for the grey full head of hair.

I started getting in shape(Primal/Paleo thanks to this group) and went from 245.9-250 on Jan 4th to 231.7 this AM with the goal of sub 210-200 lbs.

I am active in walking hiking, Mtn bike riding. Still working cuz i need to build up the retirement account after my wife is recovering from a long term illness(Lyme disease+.....) that cost us in excess of $500,000 out of pocket.

Feeling good except for the normal aches and pains but have a positive attitude.

Know very well there is more road behind me than in front, but I am trying to do everything I can to make it to the end as strong as possible.

When I was young and looked at my dad at 45 I thought he was old. When I was 45 i was kinda shocked that I felt no where near as old as I remember my father did. I was hiking, skiing, scuba diving, mtn climbing, mtn biking and had my pvt pilots license. Even at this age I still do all of these things that my father never did.

 

Ohhhh, I like these answers because most of what I'm seeing reflects what I'm feeling. That being that age, though it will affect us, is just a number. My wife and I struggle to stay in shape and we refuse, as spoke by Dylan Thomas, "to go quietly into that good night." So, we fuss, and we exercise and we try new things and fail and try other new things and have fun. It's life and as they say, "Life is a sexually transmitted disease that always fatal." Ain't none of us getting out of here alive.

My point is, however, that I have been given the opportunity to share these life experiences with a wonderful woman with whom I am excited to be able to grow old together, even if only one of us sees us as growing old. Irregardless of that perspective, we're together and that was my dream. To find a soulmate with whom I could relax and grow old as one couple as we embrace life and love with each other.

Oh poop, that's sounds crazy mushy and she'd hate that too. I gotta go...thanx for chiming in there y'all.

 

Hey I resemble that remark!

 

My Dad was not old until he was 72. I am 65 and cannot do this year what I did at 60. So, I think around 70 is the number for me. Got lots to do before then, "miles to go before I sleep".

 

I am not old as long as I have a lust for life and awake each day wondering what the world will bring.

 

62 here.

But friends that I used to associate and hunt with back in the 80s who are only 3 or 4 years older are now obese, diabetic, heart diseased and just plain lazy ass couch potatoes. They've been that way for the last 20 years. They're ready to throw in the towel. They're old.

You know what? F'em! Age is gonna get me but for the foreseeable future, I refuse to lay down and die.

 

What is age but youth wrapped in experience... I figure that age is based on an arbitrary mileage around a semi fixed object in space (Sun) as many mile as I've put in maybe I'm younger that my drivers license says....

 

age is in your mind. Does the body take more time to heal the older you get ? yes

For me the key is, does life still interest you?

I'm watching my parents age and my Dad just isnt interested in anything anymore so at age 84 he is old. My mom at 82 is interested in everything, teaches tai chi and gets out of the house almost daily. My Dad just wants to stay home. Its interesting because raising kids she was the home body and he was the social butterfly.

So again (just my opinion) you are old when living isnt interesting anymore.

 

When I was 16, 26 was older than dirt.
When I was 26, I figured out that at 16 I was dumber than dirt.
Now that I'm old, everybody from 26 on down looks like 16.
Not dumb, just astonishingly young. Considerably younger than dirt, anyway.
Somewhere along the line it becomes the defects that defines the person an individual, not their perfections.
They are the definitions of a person's life, and personal evolution.
I've got scars, wrinkles, limps, wheezes, flat knuckles, cranky joints, and liver spots on my liver--(too).
And I earned every single one, usually through stupidity.
(Hey, Vern! Hold my beer & watch this!)

My sweetie is an individual, too. And more beautiful than ever.

 

I play music on Tuesday night at a local pub, I recently celebrated my 60th birthday there with some killer rock and everyone enjoyed themselves so much that the Office Lounge in Foley Alabama has now declared every Tuesday in 2016 as my birthday. I will be 112 years old by the end of this...just sayin

 

IMHO, age is indeed between your ears. I am 64, Sweetie is, well, let's just say she's "younger".......I didn't exactly rob the cradle, tho. OK? Anywho, we often have discussions about how we don't feel (or act) our ages. For me, mentally I see myself between 25 and 35. Fortunately, I've got enough life experience to realize my body can't do the stuff it used to at 25 to 35! Took a few painful experiences to make this admission....and it was hard.

We live full lives, go and do just about whatever we want, we both work out (walk and bowflex for me, walk and gym for her) 4 to 5 days a week and try to watch what we eat (being Cajun, it's tough, tho! LOL)

I also think mental outlook is key. Think old, feel old. My mom just died a week and a half ago at 93. She did really good until last December, so I think I also have good genetics.

Live long and prosper!

Kajun

 

I do not think age matters at all. Not when you have love like that. What you wrote melted my heart. You are so blessed to have found each other. Age is irrelevant. She is still who she was when you met her. The years may have passed but the person is the same person you fell in love with.

As for your original question- my kids always tell me to grow up and I have heard the word immature a few times. I am female so I stopped celebrating another year older. It is no fun it is depressing so why bother keeping track. I am doubtful animals keep track of their age so why should we.

 

Glad to know that we are all in such good company. The answers here reflect my opinion exactly. However, I still have regular disagreements with my body about how and what "we're" going to do as well as how "we're" going to do it…as TXKajun quotes a famous Star Trek immortal line, "Live long and prosper."