The Age Factor

So I've been wondering a lot lately, "When are you truly considered old? At what point are you no longer young and do others consider you an old person." Perhaps this thought has been haunting my brain because many of my friends, and me (I guess) are quickly approaching 40. When I was a kid, 40 was ancient. Someone who was 40 probably had a pet dinosaur in their youth. Sometimes my kids will make the comment that I'm old. I quickly shoot them the look like, "You better find someone to make you dinner, because I'm sure not doing it." I even asked my mother recently if she considers herself old. She said that she still felt like she was really active, but her body was tired. She thought she acted much more youthful than her mother did at 68.

I had just seen probably one of the funniest movies ever, The Hangover (http://hangovermovie.warnerbros.com/). I laughed so hard throughout the entire film that at certain times I wasn't sure if I had gone into labor. I even think at one point that I wet my pants a little (which is completely normal when you are pregnant with your 4th, right?) Well, the next day I called my mom and one of my sisters and told them both to go see the movie. I knew they'd love it. My sister couldn't believe I told my mom to see it. "She won't think it's funny." I just kept telling myself that there's no way you couldn't think this movie was funny. Then my mom planned a ladies night out with 2 of her friends to go see the movie. My sister had me paranoid. "Oh crap, what if they hated it?" I would be responsible for ruining their big night out.

I called my mom the next day at 8 AM. "What did you think of the movie?" I blurted out.

"It was okay, I didn't think it was that funny. I mean it was funny in parts." My sister was right. My mother was past that point in her life of thinking irresponsible behavior is funny. A younger person will always think someone that is older has "old person" behaviors. It goes something like this - 20 is old to a 10 year old. 40 is old to a 30 year old, 80 is old to a 70 year old and so on. I guess I can't blame my mom for not thinking it wasn't that funny, it's inevitable. But, at least she tries.