Friday, June 13, 2014

Time Marches On

When someone dies, they freeze in our minds -- we view them as being that age forever.  We can't imagine them as the older person they would have become had they not passed away.

For example, John Lennon would be 74 years old now.  Can you picture him that old?

Lennon was tragically killed in 1980 at the age of 40.  An odd fact is that his son Julian is now older than Lennon was at the time of his death.  I noticed this when I saw a current picture of Julian, showing him a decade older (51) than I ever saw John.

My mother died young from breast-cancer (54).  When I passed her age, I felt strange.  My mother, a generation older than me, never lived to see the age I am now.  That's odd.

Do you ever think about age?

18 comments:

  1. I often think about age. In fact the older I get the more I think about it. When I was young I didn't spend a second thinking about it.

    So sad to hear about your Mother.

    bisous
    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do think aout age and it's a little nerve wracking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Never thought about it before but yes, must feel a little strange!!! I do find it hard to believe I'm 33-which feels really old x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *giggles* see and these are the type of responses that we endure. I do have to ask everyone that when you were in your "20's, 30's" at any time did you think that you were old.
      No longer going to "school" and having that social circle,
      facing life, job, house, car, payments,
      caught in the responsibility that you are now an adult....
      For me, I am thinking that the transition between 20-30, maybe more traumatic then 30-40 or 50-60 please correct me if i am wrong, because as the body starts to have medical issues associated with age...the mental insecurities of the age now becomes confirmed by the physical.....

      You would be surprised how many people will say "your just a kid" when there is an age differentiation.. It becomes an automatic segregation that i think society really does encourage...(sorry Ally, had to point this out...you are not the only one who says this) I often ask..Why?

      Delete
  4. Wow I didn't realize that John Lennon was only 40! That's the same age as me and I thought he was "old" back then. Crazy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I second Alison's comment- I didnt know Lennon was only 40! wow. so young. I am thinking about age more now that my mom is getting older and I'm thinking about logistics of caring for her as she gets on in years (my dad passed away 15 years ago and she is still on her own). As for my own age.. hmmm I just want to stay this age and fitness level- I'd say I feel pretty darn good for my age!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have been thinking about age since I was in my late teens.
    I always think that when my mom was my age she had 3 kids and one already going to college (me)- so its kind of odd.
    When my great grandmother was my age she had over 12 kids....and then passed at 40.

    ReplyDelete
  7. All the time! My dad died when he was 38. I turn 32 in July. It boggles my mind that in 6 short years I will be the same age as he was when he passed away.
    Time is so strange...

    Lisa.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah, my dad died at 54, too, which is not old at all. When I'll be this age, I'll definitely have the same thoughts...

    -Kati

    ReplyDelete
  9. I do. And similar thoughts about my mom, who died at age 55. I have outlived her by 4 years now. Her birthday is Monday. She would have been 86.

    Sometimes when I get to thinking about age like this I find it easier to just block it out of my mind and just focus on the moment.

    Otherwise, it is too "mind boggling" to me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think about age in the sense that I'll never be younger than I am right now. That motivates me to do the things I want to do with my life.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've just had similar thoughts. Every so often it pops up in mind, how someone is frozen in time while the rest of us get older and more unrecognisable

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am always thinking about Age. For starers my birthday is next friday, so it is coming into play. I am in my last year before i am no longer considered in a social circle (35 being the cut off) and it is one that I founded that is the irony.
    Aside from that because of the age differentiation between my partner and myself, age does come into play.
    By my family i am always treated as a "kid", never given the respect of adult womanhood
    When I was Vice President Executive (although no longer unfortunately) I would frequently be admonish by clientele for my age because I was too young to be in the position i was in..In fact..I have heard it numerous times from my superiors...

    I think at what age will people finally see me as "adult"
    I am currently a manager right now...and for the first time i am gaining the respect not by upper management, but by my subordinates..which is a new feeling for a change...
    I think age hits me the most when i look at the things i loved growing up, vs the things that everyone else loved....and i am truly in that generational void. Great deal of it being with my friends and partners whom i associate with....
    But truthfully It is all good!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very much so - perhaps at times too much. I've had a bit of a complicated relationship with age. Growing up, I never felt mine (I felt and typically acted much older) - I had a hard time relating to most of my peers and was far more at home in the adult word. Even now as an adult (very much so - I'll be 30 in about three weeks), I feel like, as they say, an old soul, but to a bit of lesser extent - perhaps because I'm gradually becoming one.

    I've thought about age on a lot of other levels though, including how it relates to me being the oldest sibling and first born grandchild on both sides of my family. The ages at which various relatives, even those I never knew passed away. How sad it is, for example, that one of my grandmas lost her dad at age 15 and her mom at age 27, just a few months shy of when she gave birth to my mom. I've been deeply involved with (my) family genealogy research for years now and that too puts age, birth and dates of death at the forefront of my mind as does, at times, the vintage world (filled with faces, famous and nonfamous alike, who have sadly long left us).

    As I age, I see and feel firsthand what those venerable folks in my life told me decades ago now, the older you get the quicker time passes (or feels like it passes, to be more exact). Goodness, has the been proving true for me in the last couple of years in particular. I'm starting to feel like if I blink twice, it will be my 40th, not my 30th birthday all of a sudden!

    Ultimately though, I'll take aging over the alternative and don't bemoan the passing of years per se, especially since I've come to love and accept myself better with each passing year and that is worth more than the perfectly wrinkle-free skin or devil-may-care attitude of youth any day in my books.

    ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lovely observations and keen insights. Thanks, Jessica.

      Delete
  14. I believe that I feel a lot younger than my 51 years as a result of having a 19 year old son ... he keeps us up to date with things and busy with younger stuff. Today tough I feel about 100!!!!

    ReplyDelete