Comments on: Aging

By: Kim Choate Thames

Kim Choate Thames — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:55:07 +0000

I was a student at Harding at the same time you were, and I, too, am 51. I find it shocking. Astonishing really. Has it really been that long? Will the next years move so quickly? Is there a word for feeling very different yet very much the same? middle age, maybe?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:49:43 +0000

Mike,
I am reminded of the old joke: “If you drink a glass of whiskey each day for about 28,835 day, you will live to be about 100.” (This, of course figures legal drinking age in the US;-)

By: HW

HW — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:38:04 +0000

Years ago at Harding, one of the “Residents of the Month” we honored during chapel had this tip for aging well:

“Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and loose women..”

He WAS 100, so I guess he’d know.

By: Jamie B

Jamie B — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:17:10 +0000

Tracy,
Doesn’t that imply lethal side effects?

By: Monty

Monty — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:10:14 +0000

I have found that the older I get, the more my dad looks like me.

My grandfather will turn 100 on December 17th. He still lives alone (since my grandmother died a few years ago, at the age of 90), still drives, and until very recently would take overnight trips. I attribute it to two things: good genes (which I hope I have inherited) and an insatiable curiosity about everything - people, places, events, history, science… . He is still a bright eyed young man inside a 100 year old body.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:05:39 +0000

I recently saw a tv ad claiming their beauty product “treats not only the signs of aging, but the cause of it.” Hmm.

By: laura oldenburg

laura oldenburg — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:23:49 +0000

Hi Mike
You know you are aging when your current events are the stuff of history to those youth around you. I really don’t feel old until then. However to be old here in Africa is a thing to be desired. Recently, at a village church Don and I were holding a marriage seminar, and the women said they wanted to be like me. Well, I”m thinking oh they think I am intelligent, articulate and then they said,” We want to be fat and old like you.” Both areas are to be prized in this country where life expectancy is 37 and emaciated is the norm due to famine. So just remember aging is a thing to be desired. It is all in the perspective of those who see us.

By: qb

qb — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:55:48 +0000

Who invented comb-overs, anyway, and why?

By: qb

qb — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:55:14 +0000

Who invented comb-overs, anyway, and why?

hirsute qb

By: EBC

EBC — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:53:08 +0000

At 51, I’ll have a 13 and a 10 year old to contend with. Not to mention a slightly younger wife continually reminding me she married an old man. All good reasons why I signed up with a trainer starting Wednesday at 6:45am.

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:48:09 +0000

Okay, I admit there have been days when I look in the mirror, totally by mistake, and croak to myself, ‘Ewwww… I look like my age feels.’

Forget lamenting about combovers. Just be glad you have a beard that belongs on your face.

Anyone seen Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust lately?

By: Mike Kjergaard

Mike Kjergaard — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:38:56 +0000

Amen Mike! I don’t want to admit that I’m 42. When my wife and I attend parent-teacher events at our kids’ schools, we always remark to each other, “Do we look as old as the rest of the parents in this room?”

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:52:51 +0000

Mike,

You probably do not remember me, I did the sound at the Porche wedding in February. I have been reading your blog for about a year now and appreciate you sharing your insights and reflections.

As to the age thing, I read somewhere recently that 60 is the new 40. I guess we are both 31, if I did the math right.

Paul

By: Deana Nall

Deana Nall — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:39:36 +0000

Mike — interesting that your parents and my dad are about the same age. I always thought he had me SO OLD, at 35. Then we had Jenna at 33 and I find myself at playgroups with moms who are all in their twenties.

I wish you could see my best Baytown friend, Lois Snead. She’s 84 years old and could be a study for aging well. Sure, her body’s not cooperating and she has some down days physically, which she finds annoying. But she holds fast to her youth and loves/ministers to young people instead of writing them off as hopeless. She makes me look forward to being old because I want to bless others then as she has blessed me.

Oh, and don’t worry about the combover. You’re a bit late for that.

By: Frankie

Frankie — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:26:35 +0000

It is odd how we see ourselves aging better than others our age. I saw an “old” friend at homecoming recently and seriously thought, “Wow - she’s not aging very well.” Then I realized I HAD had to introduce myself. . . so maybe she wasn’t the only ones!