On Aging...

[kellykid]

While I appreciate the wisdom, tolerance and patience that come with age, I detest the " menopause middle" , Gray hair and wrinkles lol Even guys have to admit that it's different for women. Or maybe society has made it that way, I don't know.

 

[Neesy]

While I appreciate the wisdom, tolerance and patience that come with age, I detest the " menopause middle" , Gray hair and wrinkles lol Even guys have to admit that it's different for women. Or maybe society has made it that way, I don't know.

I think men do go through a type of menopause only it is perhaps not as obvious. Their testosterone level goes down and as women lose estrogen it seems they become more aggressive while the men, less so. This is just my personal observation (not based on scientific facts)

 

[Walter Oobleck]

OLD people have problems that you haven't even considered yet!

An 85-year-old man was requested by his Doctor for a sperm count as part
of his physical exam.

The doctor gave the man a jar and said, 'Take this jar home and bring
back a semen sample tomorrow.'

The next day the 85-year-old man reappeared at the doctor's office and
gave him the jar,
which was as clean and empty as on the previous day.

The doctor asked what happened and the man explained, 'Well, doc, it's
like this--first I tried
with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but
still nothing..

'Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then
with her left, still nothing.
She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth
out, still nothing.

'She even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first
with both hands, then an
armpit, and she even tried squeezin' it between her knees, but still
nothing.'

The doctor was shocked! 'You asked your neighbor?'

The old man replied, 'Yep, none of us could get the jar open.'

 

[GNTLGNT]

I look back on my late teens and early 20's with much reverence and those memories always make me smile. As time goes by and I realize, in all likelihood, there are more years behind me than in front of me, I'm amazed at how my memories of my years at the U of A stay so vivid when other memories seem to fade. At the time, I thought everything mattered so much. I was convinced all of us "grunge rock" college kids were so cool and we were going to set the world on fire. I felt every word Layne Staley and Eddie Vedder belted out on countless songs, smoked two packs of Marlboros a day, drank to excess and indulged in other vices best left unsaid. Unfortunately...or maybe actually it is fortunate, life has a way of kicking in your testicles a few times and those kicks tend to teach you some very important lessons. Personally I think aging teaches you the best life lesson, perspective. Perspective teaches you the girl you once swore you would kill yourself over was actually as shallow and narcissistic as you were. It teaches you how to take some of the raw emotion you possess and funnel it into something productive instead of using it to accelerate your own demise. Perspective makes you realize the woman you have been casually dating, the same woman who is obviously interested in staying with you for the long haul and who is waiting, hoping you feel the same, is the same woman you can't tie your shoes without. I smirk often and shake my head thinking about myself during those times. I always get irritated with myself for being so short-sighted back then, only wanting to bend the world toward what I thought I needed, but only really wanted. I'm lucky to be alive at 41 years old, I told myself back when I was 20 I could care less if I ever saw 30 and did my best to make sure I didn't. I got lucky and met someone who was much further along the path of the beam than I was or ever will be. She is someone who, for whatever reason, was willing to let me figure out what time and perspective can teach you, if you take the lessons to heart as they come. I guess as good an example as any is that it's time to stop typing and hit the treadmill for an hour before retiring for the night. I can only imagine how the thought of walking on a treadmill would have cracked me up at 20 years old. For that matter, going to bed before midnight would have gotten a laugh also. I'm sure I would have lit another Marlboro, threw back another shot of Wild Turkey and told my 41 year old self to "let me know how that lame ass $hit works out for ya", then made fun of myself. Ahhh, to be young, full of yourself, piss, and vinegar. It's a journey I'm glad I survived, but don't want to go thru again. I worry about my nine year old son. I'm very much hoping he doesn't have the issues I had but it seems like everyone has them, just in different ways. That age makes your issues seem like the only issues in the world. I sure hope he has a easier time getting over himself than I did. G'night all.

...dude, that was a little slice of magic right there...well done bro...well done....you and I gotsta be twin sons of different baby mamas...

 

[GNTLGNT]

...I honestly am sick of the evryday aches and pains...but am to flippin' lazy & unmotivated to "work out", so it's my own fault...that and my overly large physiology which carries it's own embedded curses...gray or whit hair??...meh!...I've had graying hair since age 16-a family trait....bozze very much in moderation...nevber was a player or womanizer-Tracy tells me I wouldn't recognize a woman making a pass at me if it was printed in boldface on a frickin' index card...and yeah, I smoke-but it's my only vice and sure as hell never stunted my growth...

 

[HollyGolightly]

Awesome words guys! A whole new perspective, huh? Once you know, you can't go back to not knowing.
@ghost19 - look at your 41 year old self waxing so eloquently about aging - take that 20 year old ghost!

 

[HollyGolightly]

Grays - yes, I don't hide them: I earned them. It's bugs my mom, who thinks I make her look older - but they're only noticeable if you get close to me, and if I let you that close, you're gonna love me in spite of my gray.

I never knew I could be so selfless and forgiving - so that's another good thing about aging.

I was so young when we got married and had a baby. Good thing I got those 4 years of excessive recklessness out of my way early.

I never have feared death, but my husband sure does - it totally freaks him out. I think it's just a mystery of faith. I don't want to die running for my life, but I don't want to be the last one standing with the Zombies.

This has been an interesting way for all of us to get to know more about each other, huh?

 

[HollyGolightly]

...dude, that was a little slice of magic right there...well done bro...well done....you and I gotsta be twin sons of different baby mamas...

Your brutha from anutha mutha

 

[GNTLGNT]

....yeah he's real mutha..."Watch your mouth!"....I was just talkin 'bout Ghost!!!....

 

[HollyGolightly]

We appreciate your company too Holly! - this is a good thread - thanks

You're just the sweetest friend!

 

[arista]

I have mixed feelings on the grey hair matters. I am blonde (enhanced by creative highlights). However, I think some women look marvelous with grey hair if it is the right color. Others, I just want to grab the bottle of hair coloring and gift it.

 

[ghost19]

Awesome words guys! A whole new perspective, huh? Once you know, you can't go back to not knowing.
@ghost19 - look at your 41 year old self waxing so eloquently about aging - take that 20 year old ghost!

LOL, I'm happy to still be around and able to ramble, both on the board and just to ramble on in general.

 

[ghost19]

...dude, that was a little slice of magic right there...well done bro...well done....you and I gotsta be twin sons of different baby mamas...

I don't think any of my family lives in Ohio, but my old man was a truck driver.....so anything's possible...LOL I've always wondered why long term memory gets better as you get older, I have to think very hard to remember what I ate for breakfast two days ago, but stories and experiences from the early 90's, even mundane ones, I seem to be able to recall with vivid clarity. It's a strange phenomenon....

 

[king family fan]

I must say the more my hair turns grey in spots the spottier my mind becomes.

 

[ghost19]

I must say the more my hair turns grey in spots the spottier my mind becomes.

Maybe that is it. In that case, I'm soon to be senile.

 

[BeverleyMarsh]

I've come to consider that gradual memory changes are both physiological and psychological in origin. I don't know if medical experts have located physiological reasons for memory loss due to age, if there are any such reasons, but I do believe that as we age our memories become gradually effected by a part of us which has stopped trying to remember as much as we used to, perhaps due to physiological changes as well, or having become wise enough, or both. I believe a person's brain capable, after decades of having learned what matters and what doesn't relatively, to safely allow many things to be forgotten. Of course, most of these things at this stage would be those held by the brain's short-term memory functions. I suppose this concept could be applied to long-term memory as well, but I think it likely at that point mostly due to physiological changes.

This makes a lot of sense, but I also think that the rise of the internet has damaged our memory capacity as we don't exercise it quite as much any more. When you know the answer to pretty much any given question is just one google search away on your pc or phone, we just don't do the effort to remember things as much. I know I don't and it annoys me.

 

[GNTLGNT]

Maybe that is it. In that case, I'm soon to be senile.

...soon?....oh how we so easily self-deceive...

 

[Haunted]

OLD people have problems that you haven't even considered yet!

An 85-year-old man was requested by his Doctor for a sperm count as part
of his physical exam.

The doctor gave the man a jar and said, 'Take this jar home and bring
back a semen sample tomorrow.'

The next day the 85-year-old man reappeared at the doctor's office and
gave him the jar,
which was as clean and empty as on the previous day.

The doctor asked what happened and the man explained, 'Well, doc, it's
like this--first I tried
with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but
still nothing..

'Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then
with her left, still nothing.
She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth
out, still nothing.

'She even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first
with both hands, then an
armpit, and she even tried squeezin' it between her knees, but still
nothing.'

The doctor was shocked! 'You asked your neighbor?'

The old man replied, 'Yep, none of us could get the jar open.'

 

[Garriga]

I want to freeze my face. thats all.

 

[MadamMack]

I want to freeze my face. thats all.

Just don't add your head to a monkey's body~