For half an hour I’ve been sitting here, contemplating the question ‘Have you ever lied about your age?’. The answer is no. At least not that I remember. But then this would probably be the shortest post ever and you deserve more than that on this lazy Sunday.
The thing that bothered me in my youth turned into a blessing when I grew older: I look younger than I am. This was very irritating when I wanted to go out with my girl friends, who all looked more mature than me. They would flash a smile at the porter, attack with their eyelashes and no ID was asked. Which left me standing outside, fuming with frustration. But I would not lie about my age. It would have been utterly useless anyway, since I turn beet red when I try to make something up.
Finally my sixteenth birthday arrived and again we took off into town. I stepped up to the same old doorman with a big grin and told him I was sixteen. ‘Today I may enter.’ He did not believe me. My chin was rising by the second and again I told him I had the RIGHT to enter since I was sixteen. Again I was denied entrance. The fact that he would not believe me on my word pissed me off so much, that I showed him my ID and – when he opened the door for me – told him to stuff his dancing somewhere dark. We turned on our heels and found a new place to dance and have fun.
Since then I’ve come a long way. Over thirty years later I can still relate to the girl I was back then. The fact that I seem younger than my actual age no longer bothers me; in fact it’s rather pleasant. And most of the times I still feel like a young woman inside. Imagine, in two and a half years I will finally meet Sarah! It still feels weird when students call me ‘madam’. But in their eyes I’m probably an old bat.
What does aging do to us? Of course there is a bit of physical deterioration:
- no longer being able to do the split – I never could anyway
- the shrinking
- the fine lines that appear in our faces
- the way gravity takes a stronger hold on various body parts
- the little pains and discomforts that tease our bodies
- the ever-growing list of things we seem to forget
- the necessary two-day recuperation after a night out
- the energy that is eluding us
- the couch that suddenly has a hypnotizing sleep effect while watching a movie
- eyes that can’t focus as well as they used to
- the color gray that tries to sneak into our lives
- damn, this is getting depressing!
But I mean, apart from these tiny effects 😉 does age matter? Are we not still the same person inside who likes to jump in rain puddles, kicks at a tin can, sings and dances around, who likes being whistled at? Who gets rebellious in the face of boring situations and designs silly games to pass the time? Who gets insecure in new and strange situations? Who gets nervous when our wise-by-years mind tells us to be cool? Who can fall in love like a teenager?
Well I still am! How about you?
Figments of a DuTchess 