Lately, you’ve noticed people your age are so much older than you.

Oh boy – is this true! I can’t BELIEVE how old some people my age seem. Clearly I’m not that old. Can’t be. I was just 20 only a few years ago (Ok – 52 years ago – but it seems like yesterday). I remember better what I was doing than than I remember what I did yesterday.

Which is probably not a great thing. At least my kids love to remind me of the things I’ve forgotten – like reminding me will make me remember.

Hint to the younger folks out there – it doesn’t work! We might nod and go – oh right, sure I remember that – but we don’t. It’s gone. Might as well not have happened. No reason to stress over it.

But back on topic – when my Dad got too ill for my sister’s and I to deal with (along with our kids, my middle sister’s brain surgery, and jobs), we had to put him into a care facility. It was a really lovely place, with a garden, nice rooms, great staff – honestly – super nice. His comment – I’m too young to belong here!

I thought he was being silly – my Dad was always one for the wry dry jokes – but now I realize that he was being honest. I look around at folks ‘my age’ and I can’t believe how old they are.

There are of course exceptions – my friend Sonia is a tip older than me – and she’s hugely active – and so is my friend Jill. And Arlene is a marvel at exactly my age. My mother-in-law is 85 – but you’d have trouble believing it. So this isn’t true of all people – but it’s true of a lot more than you think.

As a corollary to this – Younger people tend to look a LOT younger. Doctors are the worst offenders at this. I hate going in and finding that the Doctor looks to be 20.. How can he have enough knowledge to treat me? Of course the Doctors are actually the age of my kids – which is an average of 40!

So the real question is – how did my kids get so old? I’m still young, except in the morning – or as my friend Jill discovered – when shovelling snow! (Yes I warned her not to do that.. Will she listen – take a guess…)

Anyway – the cure to folks your age looking old is to simply stop looking. What I can’t see – I won’t worry about.

Signing off to put her head back in the sand – The Soup Lady