It's all fun and games until your back creaks a little too much or you just can't stay out until 6 a.m. partying with your pack of buddies who are in their 20s.
Maybe the music you loved as a kid is now playing on the classic rock station or that TV show you grew up watching is now on TV Land, but it doesn't matter: It––and by it, I do mean age––comes for all of us sooner or later.
"What happened to make you think 'I'm old'?" –– This was today's burning question from Redditor PM_ME_YOUR_WIRING and frankly... we're feeling a little personally attacked!
"Recently I was golfing..."
GiphyRecently I was golfing with my Dad (65) and his buddy (73). I am 46 and have been growing a beard which is 85% gray/white. As we were playing a guy playing by himself caught up to us. We told him (about 70 years old) to play through. He said he would rather play with us. We agreed. 2 holes later he said to me, "so how do you 3 know each other? Were you classmates in school?" Good grief, buddy. I have felt ancient ever since. I blamed the beard and shaved it off immediately after the round.
"I realized..."
I realized that there are people in college right now that only know 9/11 as a piece of history that happened before their lifetime.
"Last week I went..."
Last week I went grocery shopping. I needed to get some apple juice for my son, and it was there, but it was on the top shelf and set back a little bit. I'm short, so I step on the bottom shelf and lift myself slightly to grab the juice. I heard a little snap in my wrist and since then, I've had some sharp pain in my wrist every time I twist/bend it and it hurts to lift anything more than a few pounds. I bought myself a wrist brace, and it has been helping.
That's it. Nothing exciting. I didn't mess up my wrist doing some parkour, or rock climbing or anything... I pulled myself up slightly to get some damn juice. That's when I knew...
"Hearing..."
Hearing one of my favorite bands as the waiting room music when being put on hold.
"I was out..."
I was out with friends one night and we decided to go to the club we used to go to when we were students.
So I haven't been to a nightclub in a long time, I did this a lot as a student but I had a lot more spare time then.
Basically Stacey's Mom by Fountains of Wayne came on. And I remember that song as one I listed to as a teenager.
And I could hear people in the club screaming:
"Oh this song; my mum and dad loved this!"
I then realized the song is 16 years old.
"It should have dawned on me..."
It should have dawned on me when I realized I have more doctors than family members on my speed dial.
The real shock came when the last of my friends from college passed away, and it hit me that I was the sole survivor of that group. Then there was the realization that I've outlived all but two of my law school friends.
All of those events that people are saying they are realizing that there are grown people who view them all as history, all of those things I 'witnessed.' Some closer than others. The boomers people like to complain about? I'm older than them, too.
Yeah, I think I might be old now.
"The kids..."
The kids I taught swimming lessons to years ago were the lifeguards when I went swimming this summer.
"I was called..."
I was called "Sir" by someone younger than me - but this person was neither a child nor was he obligated to so in his work environment. Just by his un-ironic acknowledgement of age.
