The Age of Denial…

Have you noticed a change in the mirror lately?

Boy, I have…

When I celebrated my 50th birthday some 20 years ago, I began snapping selfies of my face along the way to chart aging between 50 and 70. I will be 70 in March.

There are days when my face can be disheartening – and other days where I think, “Not bad…Stud Muffin…” At 69? Hardly… I have been 30 and I’ve been 69 and 30 was better.

Much better…

Can I still do the things I did at 30? No… In my day, I could lift 200 pounds. Today – Never! I’ve been helping a neighbor with his Ford Mustang project and I needed help lifting his transmission onto a hand truck. Erick, age 31, walked up and said, “let me help you with that…” grabbing the transmission and slinging it onto the hand truck. His transmission weighs 180 pounds.

I remember when I could do that…and I am paying for it now in joint pain.,

I call this time in life the age of denial – Boomers and GEN-Xers who deny the aging process. Boomers and Xers watched our parents grow old and fade away. This was not going to happen to us! By golly, we were going to stay young forever, enjoying eternal youth and prosperity.

Boy were we naive…

Mother Nature hasn’t changed much in thousands of years. Strides in medical science and reduced levels of stress have enabled us to age more gracefully. However, aging is also in our genetics and our lifestyle. We were born to grow old and die the minute the egg began to divide. Life began at a euphoric moment when our parents were having a happy.

I knew I was aging when I was walking through Target and a woman said to her child, “Step aside for the gentleman, Honey…”

I was 50…

James at 49…

It is remarkable how we perceive aging – at any age. I hear young people say, “Oh My God I am going to be 30!!!” and I have to laugh. Thirty?! You’re kidding me, right? Hard to feel sympathetic at nearly 70. However, I recall my 25th birthday thinking I was growing old. Older, maybe… But old?

I had no idea.

Seventy was something your parents were – or your grandparents. But you?! Us?! I will say to you wrapping up the sixties is surreal. Cresting 60 was sobering. But 70? This is when your own mortality comes up on the radar like approaching thunder in the distance. It gets your attention.

It has so often been said there’s a lot to be said for not having a choice. There are a lot of our fellow Hoosiers who are not here anymore. With each, we wonder what it is like to die – and we wonder what it is like to be them. Throughout our lives, we fear dying. Yet I’ve come to find I don’t fear dying anymore like I did at 30. I’ve had my time in the sun. Yet I don’t really want to die right now. Too much left to be done.

Do you ever think that?