What is “old”?
So, what is “old”, really?
I joke a lot about being old, but at 44 I know that’s not particularly old unless you are my teenage daughter.
My 83 year old mother in law, who just recently quit working full time, is forever talking about “old” people in their nineties.
The word “elderly” brings to mind a stereotype of someone aging and frail in a wheelchair, but that’s even less the case with today’s seniors.
Apparently “60 is the new 40“, (I’m digging that because I’m really 24 in that universe) and this group prefers the term “seniors” or “older adults” and they’re defining what “old” is.
My favorite definition?
Whatever your age, be it 55 or 85, add 15 and that’s old. And don’t forget to adjust that number yearly.
Ya know, we joke about such things, but I really believe there is a certain amount of truth to this whole “this is the new that” thing.
We are having a party to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. Despite having cancer, going through 8 surgeries and having been on Chemotherapy pills for the past 2-1/2 years, she still looks, acts and participates far more in life than my grandparents did (and considering her mother passed at 73, that means she is already 7 years older and STILL doing more.)
I know, I am involved in more activities and “childish” things than my parents were doing at my age.
I don’t know if it because we are living longer, or because we seem to be rushing past some parts of our life too quickly that we need to hold on to other attributes longer, but whatever the reason, “old” just isn’t what it used to be.