Lately I’ve been feeling pretty good about myself. I look in the mirror and decide I look a lot younger than I am and at the same time wonder how the world sees me. Surely they see me as at least a few years younger than my actual age. Surely I am unique in my youthfulness.
And then along comes another AARP magazine toting the truth of the baby-boomer mentality. Apparently, we all see ourselves as different from everyone else over sixty. According to their survey, the majority of us look in the mirror and think, “Damn! I look so much better than anyone else my age. I bet no one can believe how old I am.” This self affirming is done while rocking out to Bruce Springsteen and perusing a Harley Davidson brochure. Even if we don’t buy the bike, we’ll look hot in the leathers.
Yet, the reality is, our eye sight isn’t getting any better. It’s possible we can’t see the lines and wrinkles and age spots accumulating everywhere we look but don’t see. It’s possible our friends aren’t alone in the occasional short term memory loss we secretly make fun of, and maybe they’re not alone in ending up with food in their teeth or not hearing the car following right on their heels in the grocery store parking lot.
As super young old people, we take our health quite seriously. The disappointing discovery that we are not, after all, invincible, has been made. Therefore, we get our fresh air and exercise daily and take vitamins and supplements for everything. Growing older is easier than we thought it would be and the good news is we’re not doing it alone.
So, so much for feeling special. Everybody else has a fit-bit too and their clocking thousands of steps each day just as I am. Everybody else has access to hair color, microderm abrasion, and a Nike Store. And I’m not alone in thinking young. According to AARP, if a person is over sixty, their thinking young, happy, healthy thoughts, just exactly as I am.
Well, we’ll just see how great everyone is doing when we’re over seventy!
Later,
Mary Ann
