Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, Sep 20 2004
When Old Is New Again
Having attained the half-century mark almost two years ago, I'm still getting used to the idea that part of the way young strangers interact with me now might be based on their perception of me as someone who is to be treated as some fearsome creature who reminds them that their own youth is a temporary condition. I'm always surprised when I receive a little deferential treatment just because I'm now old enough to be someone's grandma. I like to earn respect the hard way. So I'm looking forward to that next phase. I do know there does come a point in aging, where a senior man or woman bursts forth out of this respectable cocoon society has reserved for the average senior. He or she looks around and realizes that the journey to the last part of life is not worthwhile until one lifts those wings and takes a solo flight into territory that would been bewildering the first twenty or thirty years of life. They are taken seriously again, much the way they were as a young person, when anything could be dreamed and anything could be dared. I want that phase to be there for me, but I'll bide my time through this awkward passage. I'm eager though, for the rest of the world to see me, not as some failing caterpillar, but as a fledging butterfly with rip-roaring colors and a flight plan taking me straight into glory. I hope the younger people will catch up to me socially then, and will see me the way I see myself. Granny D is in that soaring stage right now. She earned her wings. She knows it and we know it. And she's wise enough to let us go along for the ride.
posted at: 11:45 | category: /Health and Fitness | link to this entry
Having attained the half-century mark almost two years ago, I'm still getting used to the idea that part of the way young strangers interact with me now might be based on their perception of me as someone who is to be treated as some fearsome creature who reminds them that their own youth is a temporary condition. I'm always surprised when I receive a little deferential treatment just because I'm now old enough to be someone's grandma. I like to earn respect the hard way. So I'm looking forward to that next phase. I do know there does come a point in aging, where a senior man or woman bursts forth out of this respectable cocoon society has reserved for the average senior. He or she looks around and realizes that the journey to the last part of life is not worthwhile until one lifts those wings and takes a solo flight into territory that would been bewildering the first twenty or thirty years of life. They are taken seriously again, much the way they were as a young person, when anything could be dreamed and anything could be dared. I want that phase to be there for me, but I'll bide my time through this awkward passage. I'm eager though, for the rest of the world to see me, not as some failing caterpillar, but as a fledging butterfly with rip-roaring colors and a flight plan taking me straight into glory. I hope the younger people will catch up to me socially then, and will see me the way I see myself. Granny D is in that soaring stage right now. She earned her wings. She knows it and we know it. And she's wise enough to let us go along for the ride.
posted at: 11:45 | category: /Health and Fitness | link to this entry
