“If it’s too loud, then you’re too old!” I remember the popular saying draped across my fellow high school students’ T-shirts. Well, it’s official. It’s too loud and I am too old.
The signs of growing older are all around. From the happy little lines that I desperately try to discourage from settling on my face to the foods and vitamins that I consume to prolong bone and muscle strength and skin elasticity. How I miss the days of wanting to shed a couple of pounds and simply finding my Thighmaster and Slimfast and in a few days, mission accomplished. I guess as I grew older and wiser, my body did too. It doesn’t fall for those “quick fix diets” anymore. Luckily, my kids keep me active and I still feel good. But aging has a way of sneaking up on us. Sometimes I don’t even remember just how old I’ve become until I experience moments like these.
One evening as I was exiting the grocery store, I was practically knocked over by a young lady (and I use that term loosely) who was stampeding into the door that is meant to be the out. She rushed straight into my path, nearly knocking the diapers that I was buying out of my hands. She was having a loud conversation with her friends that are following her lead into the wrong entrance. Her voice was booming and filled with profanity. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief and disapproval. “You kiss your Mother with that mouth?” I wanted to ask but I minded my own business and hoped that my own children would never display that type of behavior.
I shook my head as I walked to my car. “Kids, these days! I can remember when I was that age…” I gasped as I suddenly realized that I sounded just like an old person. I am getting older. I have less patience for the inconsiderateness of others. I get tired after a long day and yes, I turn down the music.
When I was younger, I was more carefree but I was also learning. Deciding what I wanted to do in life and learning about who I wanted to become. With age, I have become grounded, responsible and really just as satisfied as I was when I was younger. As you grow older, you learn to live your life the way that makes you happy. What are you waiting for anyway?