"Aging - Younger and Older Looking”

By Ron Stultz

 15 April 2007

I suspect it does have some relationship to the types of gatherings I attend but for some reason, when I look around, I do not immediate recognize anyone my age or close. Seems like to me, that every one, is significantly younger or older by at least several or more years. But how can that be? Where are the people my age? I have to assume they are there, in the group but I just do not “see” them as my age but older. They look old.

So hard to put myself into the body, mind of another, and look out through their eyes towards me and see me as they see me. I wonder how old “they” would think I am? I have asked several people and only those under 30 seem to be able to say that they can find others their age in a large group. I suspect this is so as there are differences between those in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties. But after some age, maybe 45 or so, seems like a lot of people get stuck in a look or do not age much. Again, perhaps it is just the groups I am in but I don’t think that has anything to do with it.

 I do understand that if I manage to live to 80 or so, everyone will look young to me as fewer and fewer people will be my age or older. Boy, I am not looking forward to that. Right now, when I observe cars going by at a stoplight, seems like every driver is so young. Mothers with babies look like they are barely out of their teens and perhaps that is true in some cases, but overall, they just look so young.  Know I and my wife looked like that once, so young, it was hard to believe we could have a child.

What to make of everyone being younger or older than me. As I am a member of the baby boomer generation, should be lots of me around but for some reason I just do not recognize them, me.

I do not like looking in the mirror: all I see is an old man.