Been awhile since I last posted but, as I dive deeper into the year of my 70th birth … holy shiite …, I hope to write more. Please accept my apologies in advance.
Came upon this fascinating piece in The Atlantic on how old we feel as we get older. As I have matured less than gracefully over these many years, I often ask myself, “Self, how old do you feel?” My bad self usually responds, “STFU!” My good self otherwise responds, “Why does everything hurt?” Not definitive answers, of course, but they is what they is.
70 seems to be this peak in the chronological bell curve, or as my friend JR recently put it, “yeah, it’s like the bottom half of the toilet paper,” that grabs your limited attention span, and other various body parts, for all sorts of reasons. Don’t know why that is other than, 70 is a lot of fucking years!
The anticipatory anxiety of having to tell someone you are 70 when they inevitably ask, “How old are you?” just rings wrong. Like, “How can this be? How the fuck did this happen? Damn, with all the crazy shit I did in my life, I can’t even believe I’m still alive!” Yep, give me five, I’m still alive, ain’t no luck (oh yes it is), I learned to duck! (Thank you, Robert Hunter).
Yeah, age creeps up on you … wait, no, it’s just creepy, at least when you have to say the number. And yeah, I know, some say age is just a number, others say 70 is the new 60. Right, whatever. Those who say that kinda stuff need to mind their own business. Just help me find my damn keys, will ya??!!
I do realize, as I get older, that whether I could be wrong becomes a meaningless question. For most of the time, I can’t even remember what the question was. Yet, I also occasionally find that bathing in uncertainty, or in a hot epsom salt bath, doesn’t feel half bad. You just roll with it, and be careful when you stand up.
So, I dedicate this post to all my friends who wrestle with this age old question. As my son once said to me, “Dad, you are old!” Yeah, well tell me something I don’t know!
Oops … as a sign of my advancing age, I forgot to include The Atlantic article. Here ya go. https://apple.news/AJzm5lVffSXC-tRrlq46BTg
icouldbewrong.blog 
Geno turning 70 makes me feel old. I remember decades ago making a joke on Geno’s birthday that he was turning 70-something and people being shocked… Now the joke’s on Geno. No one is surprised that you are old and we are not.
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