Does it ever hit you that you're quite old?

[Pepper Pig]

I tend to think I'm about 40 most of the time. Today is my eldest's 36th birthday and, although I remember his birth very well it occurred to me that I'm not very young any more.

[Chinchilla_lady]

Today someone asked me if Mr C was my son, as he is 10 years older than me I was somewhat less than flattered. But like you I think I'm about 40.

[earthmaiden]

Yes, It's become more and more apparent lately. Most people I work with are under 35 and when they harp back to the good old days they mean 2002. I still have to think every time I write the date that it now starts with 20 and not 19 . My darling grandmother was born in 1891 which seemed to me as a child like an unimaginable age ago where there were horses instead of cars, limited electricity, funny clothes etc. Will my GD view the 1950s & 1960s like that? Another thing I notice is that the skin on my arms and face looks like that of a lizard, even when I put moisturiser on ... when did that happen?

I still feel 16 inside - but when I walk past shop windows there's an old dear always looking back at me. I wish that the young could understand what we have grown to understand about how it feels to get older, they might plan their lives very differently if they could understand that proper life can go on beyond 21, 25, 30 ...

[Herbidacious]

I will be 50 in three weeks. I am surrounded by twenty somethings at work, and I sometimes catch them looking at me in a way that suggests they are thinking that I have only said or dome something because I am old. I am not much younger than most of their mothers.
Mostly, though, they are very tolerant of my age and its inevitable attendant decrepitude!
I am acutely aware of my age at the moment. Four years post menopausal and it's beginning to show physically. I realize then when people say women (specifically women) of my age or older look good, there is often an unsaid 'for her age' hanging in the air. Perhaps I am wrong and this is just a mini mid (well I am obviously past the mid point) crisis, but either way, I can't quite embrace 50ness. I am certainly determined not to become inflexible in my thinking as I see others not even quite my age happily doing. I know though that I should appreciate what I have now... things are only going to deteriorate! (Sorry too much time spent with and thinking about my aged other, whom I suppose I have got into the habit of thinking of as my future self !)

[earthmaiden]

It took me years to get over being 50. Over 60 is much better, you find you don't care what people think so much!

[Meganthemog]

My sister and I were talking about this last weekend - she made a comment about us being middle-aged. I said that I didn't think it likely that she'd live to be 130
I'm 60 next year and perfectly happy. I feel more comfortable in my own skin now than I have ever done before. Yes I'd like to have less wrinkles on my face, but I blame my OH who has made me laugh for the past 40 years.

[Ratatouille]

Gosh, you are all babies. We felt old when S-I-L turned 60 a while ago and she is 15 years younger than her brother. She was in fact, a bridesmaid at DD's wedding.

I felt old today when our hairdresser called me "Ma Belle"

[liketocook]

The last time I felt "quite old" was when eldest my son turned 26 in the summer and seems in many ways to be just starting out in life, by the the time I was 26 I was married, up to my arm pits in a mortgage and had just given birth to him , I suspect the next time will be when my "wee sister" (who's six inches taller than me ) turns 50 in 2019. Me, I still feel like a young thing apart from the hot flushes and general falling to bits malarkey....

[PatsyMFagan]

The age I always remember my Mum being is 42 ... then it hit me like a ton of bricks when my daughter got to that age ! I honestly don't feel 70 and seem to have more energy than others younger than me. I think I am quite broad-minded and have had my moments and so nothing really phases or offends me these days (apart from swearing as discussed on that particular thread )

[aero280]

It's nearly 20 years since I was told by the physiotherapist that "your age is against you" when I complained that my broken leg was taking a long time to heal. I was just 53 then...

[hickybank]

I have a 48 year old son & a 46 year old daughter, I was 25 when we got married, it hit me a long time ago

[Zosherooney]

I can't believe that in less than 2 weeks time I greet the big six oh! I am still 18 in my head, some do say 'and act it', I put that down to not having kids ! I was 26 when I got married and a 25 year mortgage was something that I thought of as being out of at the end of my life !! I realise more and more that jobs that used to take an hour now take all day to achieve and I get very frustrated by that. Also colds take longer to get over as do the occasional hangover

[cooksalot]

Having just waved goodbye to loads of relatives who stayed over the past few days, I'd say, yes. I feel utterly old and knackered.
My joints often hurt and remind me that I'm 60. Side-effects from the hormone tablets I have to take following breast cancer don't help. But I still think of myself as I was my 30s. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror, or shop window, and think, who the heck is that old woman! But of course, it's me!

[TeresaFoodie]

I have always been told I look a lot younger than my years. Although I have been asked for ID when buying alcohol up until the age of 40, over the past few years this has stopped. That has made me question in the mirror if I have now started to look my age!

My Mum and I were talking about such issues earlier and she called me middle aged. I don't mind that label. I am closer to the big 50 than I am to the big 40. I remember my Nan being in her 50's. And she passed when was in her 70's. I remember my Mum passing her driving test in her 30's, now in her 70's. My Dad is 75 but I don't see him as being that age.
I think it pains me more seeing my parents age than it does seeing myself age. I was a bear with a sore head at 30. Not so bad at 40. 50 will be even better. If I reach 60 it will be a miracle! Anything more than that I hope will be a bonus. In the meantime I intend to keep a young mind and enjoy every day and my family while I can.

[StokeySue]

I posted a picture of a school trip taken in December 1969 on our school alumnae FB page

Two things struck me first that's nearly a half century gone, but we are pretty much fully sized (I grew another inch but most didn't)
But the thing that worries me is that I can't put names to an awful lot of the faces

Also I noticed recently I can't wear any raised heels I used to be one of those people who can stand all day and dance and race up and down the stairs in high heels. I went out tonight in walking boots (I did walk 4 km) and my arthritic hip thanks me.

[Badger's mate]

A few years ago we went to the pictures and it cost less than expected. I realised later that the lad behind the till had assumed we were concessions. He was clearly no older than 12 , and we were both probably nearer 50 than 60 at the time...

Several times in recent years people have offered their seat on the tube. I've always reacted with surprise and amusement and reflected upon the kindness of strangers, but given the current fashion for taking offence where none is intended, wonder if I shouldn't throw a hissy fit.

[Herbidacious]

I took me a decade to get over turning 30 Fortunately I didn't mind 40, but I do mind 50. Perhaps 60 will be ok, not that I am wishing away the intervening years!

I often wonder if not having children means I have a different perspective. I am inclined to think it makes me less 'grown up'/mature rather than more youthful. But that's really just a bit of mental self flagellation! While working with young people makes me feel old sometimes, I think it helps me not to act it so much (?!)Mind you, the twenty somethings at work seem much more mature than I think I probably as at their age. But perhaps I had further arrested development from being a student until I was 32. Although I did do tutoring which put me in a 'responsible adult' roll, in theory!

[icelesley]

It does hit home when you see apprentices coming in and their date of birth is ..... 2000 But I still feel like I am forty albeit I am 62 in January
It was only yesterday I was 25 I am sure, where do the years go

[aero280]

I've just realised that in one weeks time it will be 50 years since I started my first full-time paid employment. I was a graduate engineer with a consulting engineer in Victoria Street, SW1. It was quite well paid at the time. £1100 per year plus a car allowance.

[suffolk]

I know what you mean

I feel more comfortable in my own skin now than I have ever done before.

I'm 65 now and I too feel very comfortable in my own skin ... much more relaxed about what I look like at least ... and as a result OH says I look better and better

As for how old I feel, well what is it they say ... 'You're as old as the man you feel' or something like that ... well, given that when we got together he was half as old as I was ........ I really don't think of myself as old ... although bus drivers have started calling me 'love'

[Hope]

I'm only 41, but sometimes I feel old! Or at least my age hits me. Like the fact that we've been married for 19 years. Only a few more years and we'll have been married for half our life time! Like the fact that music and films from my yuff are now 20 years old. I remember when I was a child and 21 seemed old, now I'm twice that. Most of my friends (mum friends from school especially) are younger than me and they are all in a panic about turning 30! They all think I'm younger than them, though! (I do look younger than I am!) But honestly, I much prefer this age. 30s were better than 20s. 40s are definitely better than 30s, even with all my problems. I'm a lot more comfortable and happy in myself (most of the time!) I've learned to not give a **** about the unimportant things, and I am much more able to be the real me than I've ever been before!

[Seatallan]

Seeing all the bright young things arriving in Reading for the festival I commented to Mr S only yesterday that when I first went to Reading festival not only were the bright young things not so much as a speck in someone's eye, but their parents may well not have been born yet....

[Amber]

Lost my post...again! The original post was phrased much better, but hopefully you can get the gist...

Yes, the visitors to Leeds fest are generally younger than my children . Scarey!

OH and I have started to feel really old (early to mid sixties), when we're waiting to cross a road (whether here or abroad), and all the cars stop for us!

As a slight aside, we're all encouraged to take care of ourselves, so that we can live to a ripe old age...but, I don't want to be that lonely (healthy??) person in my nineties, when all my friends have died in their seventies or eighties. There's no easy answer is there? (Sorry if my post upsets anyone)

[WWordsworth]

I stopped at 35

[dennispc]

I stopped at 35

Me too!

[suffolk]

On the Gardeners' World forum we're all 27 ... including me and my daughter ... it's amazing how many aches and pains some of us have for twentyseven year olds

[Hope]

it's amazing how many aches and pains some of us have for twentyseven year olds

surely that's normal isn't it? at 27 I had already experienced 10 years of chronic pain!

(I look about 30 and feel about 80 most days anyway!)

[suffolk]

[patpoyntz]

Yes, was at a classic car show today..so many of the cars people were gasping over were models of cars we have had during our married life and before!

[Pepper Pig]

Ha ha. I know that one Pat!

[scullion]

gosh, you lot really are old, aren't you‽ i'm only twenty one ( - but 17 in my head).

[hickybank]

I stopped at 35

I stopped at 75 years & 65 days but that will change tomorrow

[suffolk]

I'm going backwards ... have been doing so for quite a while ... could explain the occasional tumble ... should look where I'm going

[Gruney]

I know the reason the years seem to go past faster after you reach 60 - it's because you're going downhill.

[StokeySue]

I hit 60 and it seemed like everyone I knew fell to pieces, some my age some older, some younger. A friend (a GP) and I were discussing our 'gang' all born in the 1950s, and we seem to be decaying rather drastically she thinks we have had far more serious medical events than our due, and there are other friends and acquantances too.... these things come in clusters and once you see the cluster.....

[aero280]

I suppose the the first time I felt old was in Luxembourg several years ago. I got on a bus at the end of the day to go back to our hotel, and a young lady got up and offered me her seat!!

[Zosherooney]

I had that happen to me Aero on the underground a few years back..... I put it down to my white hair, Mr. Z. found it quite amusing.

Another old age irritation, when I try and stand up and move off after sitting down for a while...... It takes too bl@@dy long !!!!

[suffolk]

... Another old age irritation, when I try and stand up and move off after sitting down for a while...... It takes too bl@@dy long !!!!

You're younger than me Zosh ... better get some springs fitted

[earthmaiden]

As I drove to work yesterday in my little car, sun shining and ipod playing I was thinking how lovely it is to be 'quite old'. The music on my ipod has all been chosen by me, old favourites dating back as far as I can remember, many would say a bit 'cheesy' but for the first time in my life there is nothing there influenced by men in my life, by what I think should be on there, by what is trendy etc, just plain old stuff that makes me smile, however naff it might be. I am lucky that the aches, pains and illnesses haven't got to me yet but meanwhile I realised just how happy I am in my own skin for the first time since I was a young child.

As for people offering seats etc., for years we have treated our elders with the respect we were brought up to, I find that so many niceties seem to have disappeared by the time it is our turn to be on the receiving end that I feel honoured if someone has nice manners towards me and even if I refuse their kind offer try to be as gracious as possible. Some years ago, I was walking with friends in Bath and some boys were playing on skateboards in the town centre a bit dangerously. As I walked by, one of the boys shouted to another, "Mind that old lady!". I don't think I had even had my 50th birthday at the time, my friends - all older than me, found it hilarious .

[Seatallan]

Reminds me of a recent occasion where Mr S stood to one side to let a couple of young blokes on pushbikes past and one of them said 'Thanks Granddad'..

[Pepper Pig]

My favourite story of that ilk was when Liz and I were on one of our Art Gallery trips. We got onto a very crowded train and a lady in one of the seats leapt up to offer me hers. Only she wasn't a lady. Think Eddie Izzard when he's in drag. I did take the seat and the three of us absolutely fell about laughing for the rest of the journey. Clearly he/she had very good manners and could see the funny side.

[Amber]

Another old age irritation, when I try and stand up and move off after sitting down for a while...... It takes too bl@@dy long !!!!

And when we try to sit down after standing up a while....we all go 'Oooph!!'.

[StokeySue]

I am trying to learn not to cross my legs when sitting down

Encourages the sciatica

[suffolk]

I seem to have a bunion forming ... my right foot is beginning to look like Ma's

[hickybank]

Suffs, you missed the R out of Mars, so your bunion looks like this

[sueturnersmith]

I'm still in my twenties, but my birth certificate says I will be seventy later this year!

[suffolk]

No picture there Hicky ... and I wasn't referring to the planet ... I was talking about my late Ma's foot

[hickybank]

Hi suffs, I have a picture this end so I wonder if anyone else can see it & it was a joke I guessed that's what you were referring to

[suffolk]

What the rest of us get, instead of a picture is an image saying "PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT TO ENABLE 3RD PARTY HOSTING"

I think others have reported a change in the terms of one of the photo-hosting sites ... is it Photobucket you're using?

[hickybank]

Yes it is but I have updated. not very often I use it so think I will ditch it
Thanks for the info