Didja ever think . . . .

That one day you would be an old person? I can distinctly remember my thoughts when a Grammar School Teacher (yes that is what they called elementary schools in my day), in about the 4th or 5th grade asking us to try to imagine what we would be doing in the year 2000. Well believe me, that was almost unimaginable, it was such a long time away, about 50 years for cryin out loud! Not being too quick at math in my head it took me a while to figure out that I would probably be in my early 60's. Once I figured that out I figured I would probably be a crochety old woman unable to take care of myself, with no teeth, a cane, and thick glasses. That's because that is what older people looked like in my family. I don't even know how old any of them were then, because most of them lived until I was an adult and then died in their 80s and 90s. But to a 4th or 5th grader they all seemed ancient, even the thought of getting as old as my parents were at the time seemed like forever, and they seemed old too. After all 30 or 40 was an old to a 10 year old. The more I thought about it the more I dreaded the thought of being an old person who was half blind, toothless, and had a bag hanging from under my clothes. I thought about that over the years, and by the time I was in my teens I had become convinced that I would not live past the age of 35, I would be used up and done for. Mouldering in my grave! Well, when I woke up on my 35th birthday and found out I was still alive, and comparatively young, I figured that I would probably live to be a very old person. By then some of my older relatives had begun to pass on, and they were 80 and older. Both my grandfathers were way up in their 90s when they died. I guess the random thoughts of a little kid trying to imagine the future 50 years off must seem pretty scarey, it was for me. I didn't think about wars, gangs, or any of the new and modern conveniences and electronics we have now, I just thought about being an old toothless, wrinkled up old prune trying to get around, and needing the help of my children to stay alive. Tsk Tsk Tsk Now I'm 71, and with the exception of trying to keep my blood pressure under control relatively healthy. I am overweight, and can feel the age creeping around when I try to do something physical and have a hard time, but I'm still a healthy, happy, toothless (except for the store bought ones) granny plugging along through life with not a care in the world. Don't ever believe anything you believe when you are 10 about people, aging, or life.