I'm not old, I'm just WISE.

Me around 6 years old.

No matter who I am with at the time, during conversations with friends, the topic of age comes up.  Anybody who knows me very well, knows that I am an ageist, through and through.  I hate the fact that as human beings, we have to get older, and I think most people would agree with me on that.  Lately though, I've been running into people from my past in various places.  Catching up on where they are in their lives now and that sort of thing.  But the thought always crosses our minds, and usually it gets vocalized that we are getting OLD.

Now for someone into fitness and health, I know that 29 years is hardly old, in fact, in the grand scheme of things, I'm still a kid when it comes to some adult decision-making.  Take this whole apartment search thing, for instance.  I don't know the slightest idea on what kind of questions to ask the realtors, what things to look for in a decent place, etc.  I mean, it's not that hard, and usually I learn best by tactile learning and trial and error anyways.  So I can sort of fluff my way through the endless ads online and in the papers and find a suitable one for myself.

Me, just last year at age 28.

The point of life is to gain wisdom through our experiences and help others' by our own lending our own words of wisdom that we have learned through our long (or short) lives.  I always try and learn something new or find our something that I have forgotten over the years' each day.  It keeps the brain and soul sharp.  I try and do crossword puzzles on my lunch break when I'm teaching during the year to keep things in my head in check.  I workout at the gym to relieve stress and feel good about myself, inside and out.  I never settle on anything for that long either.  Because I believe if you start to settle into something, you start to let yourself get too comfortable.  Not that it's a bad thing to do that, but I've always have had the get up and go attitude, trying new things and embarking on new endeavors.

I work with alot of high school and college aged kids at Kennywood during the summer, and it's amazing how much of an age gap there is with some things that we discuss each day while we're working.  I'm roughly about 10 years these kids' senior, which I don't think is a lot of time at all, but apparently I was wrong, lol.  A song came on the park radio one day this season.  It was Debbie Gibson's "Only in my Dreams".  This song came out in the mid to late 80's.  I would have been around 10 years old or so.  I had mentioned to the person I was working with who sang this song, and she was dumbfounded.  At this point, I knew I lost in the age game with this, and I explained to her that Debbie Gibson now goes by Deborah Gibson.  She then knew who I was talking about.  WOW.  Don't these kids ever learn from history???!

One of my best friends, Joe.

Also, I have a real good friend at Kennywood named Joe.  Now Joe, like many others at Kennywood, use his wit and humor to his advantage.  I've been given many a nickname by Joe.....names like Gramps, Grampa, etc.  Part of me is like, "Dude, when did 29 get old?"  I know he's just kidding around, but it does get you to thinking, if he thinks 29 is old, I pray for his soul when he catches up to me.  But by then, I'll be in my late 30's....so he'll still be laughing last.


I also remember I was out window shopping the other day and I spotted a frail old man of my height, someone who I could picture as myself in 60 years.  He was bald.  He walked VERY slowly with a cane and was very frail.  I thought about it for a moment and almost started to cry.  Now, people say all the time, "You have a lot of years to go before you hit my age..."  well, that may be so, but the one thing that they neglect to say is that the years really go by fast!  I never thought I would be looking at 30 in less than a year so quickly.

Age is definitely JUST a number.

I guess it's not age that defines who we are but again, our experiences and the things we go through in our lives that help mold and shape us mentally as well as physically.  Regardless of who you are and how good you look or have it together, we're all in the same boat really.  Father time will take its toll on all of us at some point.  The moral here:  LIVE FOR TODAY!