Do They Think I'm Old?

[Kitiger, RN]

I'm 60. That's not old. Of course, "Old" is a moving target, something like 5 years older than I am.

I told a teenage friend a story, finishing with, "And I'm not old." She looked at me as if to say, "And what planet are YOU from?"

I work Private Duty, taking care of medically fragile children in their own homes. I had one mother tell her 6-year old (in front of me), "Be careful, don't trip the nurse. She might fall and break her hip!"

And then there was the mom who told me that she was glad that I was spry!

Spry: (definition) Markedly brisk and active, especially at an advanced age!

OK, I have gray hair. I earned it. And I'm not about to bother coloring it. But I don't act old. I play with the kids on the floor, and I pop right back up.

I'm spry!

[Farawyn]

I love this. I have good friends from mid 20's to close to 70. I'm in my 40s.

It's the 50-60 year olds that make the most sense to me.

If I'm not old, you certainly are not.

(My kids would beg to differ on me. I'm old as the hills.)

[elkpark]

Think back -- when you were a teenager or in your 20s, did you consider 60 "old"? Of course you did. Everything is relative. No biggie.

[Farawyn]

Yes. Yes. I am frequently the recipient of the withering stare and "Mom...No."

I know I am secretly young and cool. "They" just don't want to admit it.

[Kitiger, RN]

Yeah, I remember being most impressed that my Mom's 45-year-old cousin could actually jog around the block!

I'm just having fun with the topic.

[RNperdiem, RN]

My coworkers range in age from early 20's to mid 60s. Old depends on who you are talking to. I remember classifying people as "older" who were only a few years older than me. I still work with one and amazed that I ever thought of her as older because she was almost 30 and had a toddler.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

60 is the new 40, right?

[Farawyn]

I dunno. I sometimes feel as if 40 is the new 60.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I dunno. I sometimes feel as if 40 is the new 60.

Haha...I guess I'll find out in 3 yrs!! A few yrs ago my now-14 yr old would make comments that I was the youngest mom in her class, or that a couple of times her friend thought I was her sister (she was born on my 23rd bday, and I look young anyway...many thanks to my Paulsen genes). Now it's "Nobody uses Facebook anymore, unless you're old or something."

[nurselabrat]

I'm glad to hear that 60 is the new 40. I turned 65 this year, and the way it looks now I'll still be working at 75. We actually have someone that works here that is 77 and she can work circles around a lot of the younger models. I am thankful every day that I was able to get the training and that I feel well enough to go to work every day. I earned a lot of respect over the years and to me that is most valuable. I've enjoyed my career. Every single bit of it. I hope to be able to physically and mentally enjoy it for a few more years. But some days I do feel very inferior to the younger, pretty nurses that come in.

[Kitiger, RN]

"A few yrs ago my now-14 yr old would make comments . . ."

There's your answer. You're a proud parent of a teen!

[brownbook]

What boggles my brain is that my brain/mind does not think, feel, old.

I was listening to Sirius radio, Doctor Radio, about TBI. The host, (a doctor), a guest MD who specialized in TBI, and the guest, a snowboarder qualifying to be on the Olympic team who had had a severe TBI. The snowboarder said (I'm badly paraphrasing) when he had bone or muscle injuries his body (brain) knew it, felt it, he knew to take it easy, rest, let the injury heal. But after his TBI his brain could not, did not, acknowledge it had been injured. He thought he could compete again, (he couldn't).

I feel the same about my body getting old. My brain doesn't seem to acknowledge that the body (and mind) is old? I have to consciously acknowledge that I can't physically perform as well as I did 20 years ago, from driving, a car to jumping on my bike, to climbing to the top of a ladder to prune my tree!

I don't know if that makes any sense?