NUTS TO THAT!
I've got just 3 years to go, and 60 always seemed so old in a Kevin and Perry "you're so old you're practically dead" way.
40 didn't seem old at all really.
50 wasn't ideal, but was still OKish.
60? Sod that for a game of soldiers.
Someone here was talking just now about going mad, then one day taking off all their clothes and running round with a chainsaw. I have the chainsaw, but the madness bit doesn't really appeal, nor the public nudity. But stuff this age business.
Where does one go from here, other than the gentle decline to senility, heart attacks (if you're lucky) or the home for geriatrics (if you aren't)?
Sounds like your head is where mine has been this year. I just am not sure what 60 looks like any more. I knew what it looked like for my grandparents etc. But I have no idea what it looks like for me. For us.
ReplyDeleteWe're too young Toni.
It's a little like the grandfathering thing too. My Mother's grandparents were stern, aloof people, and my English grandfather was also somewhat disconnected especially after his first wife died of a stroke that she had while looking after us (I wonder if he thought we were in some way responsible, my brother & I). My own father died when our daughter was less than 18 months old, and my inlaws were of a seemingly much older generation.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if a part of the issue is that at the age I am & the way I feel inside, I could imagine starting again with a new family, but that's plainly not going to happen. At the same time it's a little tricky to live vicariously through our adoptive family.
So what does approaching 60 look like?
Wishing to retire (10 years away at this stage) because of the things I could do, rather than having been worn out and ground down by work. The body is gently deteriorating, but not enough to stop me doing almost everything I ever wanted to (and a few things I didn't). I understand why VD is a problem in people our age, because having survived this far and discovering one is mostly still like one was as a teen/20s ager, if you've no good reason to behave well then putting it about seems like fun.
The role models have all been broken and don't work any more. Something that does help is to try to see myself as being a model for the next generation, hopefully living in a way that they will aspire to, rather than having been a half-dead old fart in a flat cap or some kind of geriatric Priapus who didn't know when to stop.