Wednesday, January 13, 2010

act your age, not your shoe size

Anyone ever tell you that when you were a kid? "Act your age, not your shoe size!" And, have you ever heard someone say, "I wish he'd act more like his age?" Well I've heard it, been told it and I ask you this - what the hell does it mean?

Last week, when my friend Todd told me that I'm right on the cusp of not being able to wear my arm warmers (you heard me) or shop at H&M anymore all I could think was, you bastard.

Listen, I get it. There's an entirely massive group of people out there that have no self perception or concept of time. Some people are stuck in a generation, living in a memorable moment. The mullet is living proof.

To be honest, I was pretty happy when the '80s came back in a big way over the last two years - even if I couldn't pull it off anymore. But all that said, do we really have to 'act' our age? And if I do, I'm not sure what that entails. Book clubs? Nights at home watching sitcoms? Reading more? Well, I'm doing it. But that being the case, it looks like I'm acting 75, not 35. So I'm still not acting my gawd-damn age. (So, to you my sweet arm warmers, I love you...even when I know I could just wear a sweater instead)

I guess my age-heros in life are the ones that defy every age-norm. It simply comes down to confidence, loving life in your skin, comprehension of a moment in time and oh, self-awareness (that's the hardest part).


1 comment:

  1. my act your age moment came when I had an appointment with the eye doctor to complain that he gave me the wrong rx. He said "MY DEAR, YOU HAVE REACHED THE AGE WHEN YOUR EYES DON'T RESPOND AS FAST AS THEY USED TO" I could have hit him. How dare he I plan on living young until I am in my nineties just like my dad. In fact I am planning on it. Rich and I had that conversation last week when I said as long as we stay young in our minds it doesn't matter what our bodies do. They make wheel chairs quite portable and I might even get a cane with flames on it.

    ReplyDelete