Are Joan Alpern and I the only DUers who feel old? Can anyone else relate?

[bertha katzenengel]

Memory # 43

my memory sucks
old age setting in
i never know
which decade i'm in

i slog through each day
my eyes on the ground
i talk to some folks
whoever's around

did i talk to you
yesterday or last week?
did we talk about
what we're going to eat?

did we talk about
the war or the O's?
or a trip to the beach
or the trees when it snows?

some days i can't even
remember my clothes
did i wear this already?
do you think this spot shows?

i'm just forty-three
this is an outrage
when i was a kid
"old people" were my age

now i look at kids
they know everything
i'm not young enough
to know everything

and since i can't
remember my name
or . . . or . . .
what?

[Lisa]

1. my job isn't helping ... I work with teenagers!

I was teaching a class yesterday, and mentioning something that happened when I was in undergrad -- a lot of blank looks, and then I realized that virtually the entire room hadn't even been BORN when that happened.

Yeah, I did feel pretty old and decrepit ... I tried to recover, with a one-liner about Britney Spears, but I think they only laughed because my efforts to appear "hip" were so pathetic.

[hyphenate]

8. There was a cute article a long time ago

about the generation gap. Someone was talking to another person who was just about ten years younger and began talking about Paul McCartney. They said something to the effect, "You know Paul McCartney? The singer?" And they were obviously thinking of the Paul many of us know so very well. However, the other person responded something to the effect of: "Yeah--the main guy in Wings." It kind of defined how something we remember from our own youth is redefined with someone from another generation.

For myself, some people I know who are only 5 years older than me wax rhapsodic about Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and almost any and all pre-rock and roll from the 50s. I didn't come of an age to remember until around 1965, so my earliest memories are of The Monkees, Paul Revere and the Raiders and all the bands who came over from England after the Beatles paved the way.

[hfojvt]

11. I had the same feeling when I was teaching college freshman

I was teaching about Reaganomics, and I was thinking they should know a fair amount about it because it happened in our lifetime. I was teaching in 1988 and 1989. Reagan's term had just ended after all. But then I realized that the students were only 19 years old and that much of the talk of Reaganomics was from the campaign in 1980 which happened when they were just 10, and how many 10 year olds were paying attention to those things? So it was like ancient history to them. It would be even worse if I was still teaching. They wouldn't even have been born yet.

[Lisa]

12. that explains why my James Watt jokes went over like a lead balloon!

But with Senator Leahy of Vermont in the news again (for criticizing the "cockamamie" border fence plan), at least I can talk about the acid rain issue (he and many other New England politicians joined with Canada to lobby Reagan/Bush for pollution controls).

[bertha katzenengel]

32. They laughed because you were funny

and to show they cared.

I watched a bunch of people audition for the national anthem this morning. About half were kids who were born around the time I was turning thirty . . . :decrepit:

[LynzM]

2. I've always felt old for my physical age...

Slowly catching up, but married with a kiddo at 22, and buying a house and holding full-time jobs at 24 puts one a little outside of one's 'peers', generally. I like the poem, even if it does make me a little sad for you, dude.

[bertha katzenengel]

31. the memory thing bugs

and i lost several years to severe mental illness and the general inability to be an adult and "be there," "live life," whatever you want to call it. There's about a ten-year void.

You were made to be overly mature before you could really enjoy yourself. That's sad. But you're here, and I am so glad. (And I really like what your av means.)

[LynzM]

40. Aww, thanks Bertha

That sucks about the loss of time... I don't really know what to say to that, except I'm sorry.

In a lot of ways, I grew up for various reasons pretty early (diabetes, parents' divorce, etc.) At the same time, those things made me ready for and (mostly) ok with the way that things played out so far in my life. Do I have times of wishing I could be your average 25-year old with an apartment, a job, and few other responsibilities? Sure. I don't think I'd be human, if not. But the good definitely outweighs those moments!

Glad you dig the avatar... I don't think I'll ever change mine, now that I've found one I love!

[u4ic]

46. I can relate, bertha

I lost 7 years (to physical illness). Completely non-functional.

I'll be 40 this year, look much younger (hey, didn't see the sun much during those years), and (physically) feel much, much older.

Emotionally...still hovering in my 20's.

[bertha katzenengel]

49. sigh

keep enjoying life, u4ic -- the alternative makes it a miserable existence.

[u4ic]

55. You're absolutely right, bertha

Starting over...completely from scratch...is not easy at 40, but at least I have another shot at it...

It's amazing how the little things bring the most joy now.

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. darlin' I don't feel old

I AM old

[bertha katzenengel]

30. aw, hell

if you can saw a violin, you ain't old . . .

[Redstone]

4. Our phone number when I was a kid was M 19. How's that?

And you didn't dial it. You picked up the phone, and the operator answered and asked "Number, please?"

Redstone

[bertha katzenengel]

29. Woo hoo!

That's awesome! I ever-so-vaguely remember when our phone dial had "KL4-" or some such on it.

[yy4me]

56. Good Grief, I remember ours 522Ring4, and it was a party line!

Big wood box with crank on side. Geeze, I am getting old. They are now in Antique shops!
I remember my mothers warning to listen for breathing, had to make sure no-one was listening.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. You are such a baby...

And I mean that in a good way. I think I'm older than you but younger than Joanie, but it doesn't really matter. We're women who have been around the block a number of times and we embrace it.

[bertha katzenengel]

28. "women who have been around the block a number of times and we embrace it"

AMEN

So very well said.



Dang... you & Peggy have nailed it. Thank you.

[hyphenate]

6. I feel old a lot lately

But this year is the big 50 for me. It wouldn't be such a big thing, except that I had higher ideals for myself to little or no avail. My friend Barb said she reads the obits every day--just to make sure she's not in them.

[redwitch]

This year I too turn 50. Doesn't bother me though.

As George Burns once said "Oh, To be seventy again!," I like your friend Barb!

[bertha katzenengel]

26. Your friend Barb ain't right.

50 ain't old. My beloved is 54 and the only thing "old" about her is her joints. She is tarp as a shack and will be for decades to come. And so will you.

[hyphenate]

41. I was in Target last night looking at birthday cards

Barb's b-day is March 19, so I was looking for something funny for her. I can't get away with too much, because she can hit right back with mine a month later. She, BTW, is turning 57 this year. Several of the cards were saying something about 50 being the "new 30" trendwise. What scares me, though, is seeing the young kids nowadays wearing the peasant blouses of my youth, hiphuggers, bell bottoms, and all that other stuff we wore 40 years ago! Even the colors are coming back, with hot pink, melon, lime and such. Pretty soon, disco will be back, and those horrible, horrible polyester suits!

[bertha katzenengel]

44. Well, I have the perfect 70s answer to those horrid polyester suits:

Flick your Bic.

[Texasgal]

7. Honey...I'm old...

But I still get a kick out of WIPEY-DIPES!!!

[bertha katzenengel]

24. LOL

You ain't right.

YOu're not old... I had you pegged in your mid-twenties... ???

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Old? Dude, you don't know from old. You ain't seen old!

This is OLD. Older than dirt:

Skating on roller skates that fastened to your shoes with a key.
Listening to kids' shows on the radio.
Hearing sonic booms and doing the duck 'n' cover thing in school.
Actually having seen President Eisenhower in person.
Applying for jobs advertised in the want ads under the "Help Wanted - Female" column.
Dressing up to go shopping.
Buying a loaf of bread for 25 cents.
Buying a gallon of gas for 25 cents.

I'm older than my parents were when I thought they were really old.

[bertha katzenengel]

23. ocelot

Allow me to say this to all DUers who are of a certain age, but most especially to you:

I adore "old" people. I have so much to learn from you. Mrs. V. is only eleven years older than me, yet I quiz her about "what was it like when" -- because sometimes it seems like a generation.

Thank you for being around.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

43. Yeah... things have changed an awful lot

in (what seems to me, anyhow) a very short time. Maybe that's what causes us to feell so damn old. Nothing is like it used to be, it seems.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Oh, my dear Bertha......

I can relate, and how!

I am older than you, I'm sure, since I'm 62 now...

But my MIND doesn't feel old.......my joints do, though!

In many ways, I feel younger than I have in many years, since I joined DU...

This is a wonderful place to be.......

I feel as though my attitudes are still young......

And that is where my youth lives!

[bertha katzenengel]

21. Hear, hear, Hometown Peggy!

"my attitudes are still young

And that is where my youth lives!"

Very well said.

[BikeWriter]

13. I have clothes older than you, young Lady!

[bertha katzenengel]

20. Sometimes I wonder

if your beard is older than me

[BikeWriter]

47. Earlier versions of it were, but it was dark then...

instead of white blonde.

[redwitch]

14. Inside every thirty year old

is an 18 year old asking :"What happened?"

[bertha katzenengel]

19. That doesn't end at 30

I ask that about every day -- I'm not sure it ever ends.

[redwitch]

45. I know.

All I ever wanted to be was 18. I should have set other goals.

[LaurenG]

15. Although I've heard from some younger people that I'm old

I don't feel old in my head. My body doesn't think moving furniture around is as easy as it once was but in my head I am still 25 or even 5 sometimes when I feel the urge to just play. I LOVE your poem and I do relate but I still think I'm a kid.

[bertha katzenengel]

18. I do too - I totally feel like a kid. I feel so young.

It shocks me to realize my life is probably around half over. Not to be maudlin, just - factual.

And I have the tip to moving furniture (which is my chore once I get up from here): get wood floors and put felt on all the feet.

[LaurenG]

25. Thanks Bertha

I will have to have help ripping up the wall to wall but there are wood floors under the carpet!

[bertha katzenengel]

37. LOL

Just put me on DIY or HGTV . . . Don't do it w/out help.

[ashling]

16. I got a haircut the other day

and the har cutting person gave me the senior discount on her own initiative.

That was my first time ...

[bertha katzenengel]

17. Oh, my.

I thought you were going to say "there were so many gray hairs on the floor." She shouldn't have done that...

[Katherine Brengle]

22. I *feel* old and I am only 24... go figure... n/t

[bertha katzenengel]

33. Grow down!

. . . trying to encourage you to act your age . . . go let loose, have some fun. Your sig line image tells me you're an intense, deeply concerned young woman. You must let go sometimes, if only for a few hours. Forget about politics and laugh your ass off. You deserve it.

[Squeech]

27. I'm 53 years old today

Can't read without glasses any more.

My left knee objects vehemently to climbing stairs.

And I have to get that bumper sticker that says "Ask me about my prostate!"

But what really makes me feel old is whenever I have to listen to the radio. Yucko!

[bertha katzenengel]

35. Congrats, Squeech, happy birthday!!

There's an easy solution to the radio problem: XM. I listen to the 70s station almost all the time, or to Folk Village or Soul Street. LOVE it.

Have a great evening.

[khashka]

34. Well it ain't just you and Joani

I feel 10 years older than god......


In the words of Courtney Love: "I'm too young to be this old"

I've been arguing for this but does anyone ever listen to me? No! We need an Old Folks Group!

(No not a Seniors Group, or a Gray Panthers Group - an Old Folks Group!)

Khash.

[bertha katzenengel]

36. Hi, Khash!

sixteen hugs because it's four fours and four is my number and i like you.

[khashka]

38. Hey!

All my love to you (but give a little to Mrs. K. too - think we can get her to post here? I'd love to meet her!)

Khash.

[bertha katzenengel]

39. Hey, sweetheart . . . search on the name "Mrs. Venation" --

she chose that name when I was still "bertha venation."

But she is here VERY rarely. She likes political debates with people on the other side. Don't know how she stomachs it.

Have a fabulous evening, dear love.

[lizziegrace]

42. Count me in

My birthday just passed and I've got two years on you Bertha. Before I turned 40, I always felt like I "fit in". Now, it's not so easy.

[Deja Q]

48. I'm 33 and like my 31 y'o coworker who has similar problems,

we feel like we're trapped in 70 year old bodies.

(the joint problems, periodic numbness and tingling, other fun stuff like that... )

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

50. Did you write this poem? Nice!

[TheBaldyMan]

51. I'm old but if fell younger inside if you know what I mean.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is decrepit. To be brutally honest I was at my peak physically about 10 years ago, since then I have decided to age disgracefully. A few aches and pains are the price you pay for experience.

[Crazy Dave]

52. Whenever you feel old...

Stop feeling yourself.

[graywarrior]

53. I have a number of years added up, but in no way am I old.

[CBHagman]

54. When I was in my 20s...

...one of my professors (then age 47) said that when he looked in the mirror, he still saw the same 18-year-old boy. I am the age he was then and finally understand what he meant. Was it Simone de Beauvoir who said we are always the same age inside?