We sat over a pasta lunch, drinking wine, celebrating the birthday of my mum… and the topic of age came up. “I am kinda stuck at 23. I feel like I look 23 still… I don’t know.” My sister quickly put me in my place, “I’m pretty sure if a 23 year old walked in here, you’d realise that you don’t look 23 at all.”
She was right. I am definitely not 23. I don’t even look it. I’ve never actually cared about age or aging before. I’ve always felt it was a beautiful thing to get to live every day of your life, and it should be something that is celebrated, not complained about. Living, well particularly aging, is something that many don’t have the privilege of doing. Having said that, I’ve never been more aware of my age or aging. I want to tell you that it’s society that is making it a focus, but I think I’m part to blame too. I think the topic got on my radar and I’ve been more aware than ever.
Over the weekend I played netball. Not just one game of netball, but SEVEN. My body feels old today. My knees are creaky, and my back has a twang in it from attempting to jump too many times. Our team is the oldest team in the competition, and 90% of the people we compete against are more than half our age at around 15 years old. Now that’s a little reality check for you, playing a game of netball against a teenager. I find myself asking unintentional patronising questions like, “How is school going?” or “Did you put sunscreen on today?”
As I was practicing before the game, a woman came up to me and commented that our uniforms were flattering. I think it was a polite way of saying, “Oh hey chubby, older person… I see you playing netball”. Around ten minutes later, our conversation took an interesting turn when she wanted to teach me how to do kegel exercises. I’m sure that’s something our 15 year old opponents don’t have to worry about yet.
On the same topic of netball, I had to go and buy some new shoes on Friday for our marathon netball weekend. There was a wall of netball shoes, and I was particularly drawn to the pink ones. “Do you have those in an 11?” I asked the sales guy. “Ah, you’ll actually have to choose from these senior ones,” he informed me, pointing to the more serious black, blue and grey colours.
SENIOR? Dude. Seriously.
I know I’m in my mid-thirties {quickly approaching the big 4-0}, but still feel like I’m in my 20s. Shame I don’t look it.
How old do you feel? Ever had a senior moment?
