Getting Old vs. Being Old

[Toto'sDad]

43 43 from the whites.

I usually score a little better when I'm playing against someone. Yesterday was a family day.

 

[Ronzo]

43 43 from the whites.

As I said, you’ll get there!

 

[Toto'sDad]

As I said, you’ll get there!

When I was young before losing my son and having a hip replacement I was a six. I know how to break 80 it's just a whole lot harder without the distance I once had. I have to bogey the long ones and par or birdie the short holes.

 

[jbmando]

I’m 58 - 80 is old.

I’m 70 - 90 is old. Seriously, I get perturbed by overly cautious “old” drivers and when I see them, half of them are probably younger than I am. I still call them Grandpa!

 

[Ronzo]

@Toto'sDad, I’ve never been better than a 14, and that was before my catastrophic knee injury at age 42. Never broke 80, but I shot 80 a couple of times.

My right knee dislocation ended tennis for me - I was much better at that - but I could still play golf a little. Need a knee replacement on the right knee this fall to repair the failing joint’s collapse. Haven’t played in a couple of years, and I can’t wait to play again.

You’ve had the unspeakable happen to you, TD. You have to shoot your age, or better. And you will.

 

[jays0n]

I’m 55 in a couple months. I ran 10k today on Father’s Day and have been drinkin like a fish since (hey, it’s Father’s Day!). But, I feel old. Some young whipper snapper (what does that even mean, who came up with that) passed me runnin on a trail and I cursed him good. But hey, I was out there!

I still feel old. Bought wine at Safeway recently and they did not ask for ID even with my mask on. Ugh, I cursed that cashier too, (I curse a lot in my old age). I played my Tele as well today and worked on mixolydian scales to play over 7 chords.

Well .. I can still run 10k and drink. And I can pretend to play guitar. All is well bein old I guess.

 

[Toto'sDad]

@Toto'sDad, I’ve never been better than a 14, and that was before my catastrophic knee injury at age 42. Never broke 80, but I shot 80 a couple of times.

My right knee dislocation ended tennis for me - I was much better at that - but I could still play golf a little. Need a knee replacement on the right knee this fall to repair the failing joint’s collapse. Haven’t played in a couple of years, and I can’t wait to play again.

You’ve had the unspeakable happen to you, TD. You have to shoot your age, or better. And you will.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm sorry that you've had the physical problems you have, but they seem to go with being older, and keeping on being active at sports. I hope you get well and get to play golf again. I had spurts where I could play at close to even but I always had those balloon up days to bring me back to earth.

To break seventy five, at least for me, I had to play EVERY day. That is not practical for most people. I once played eleven games in a week. Almost all of them with something on the line, either team or tournament. I thought I could play pretty good, then I played a round with a plus three. He did teach me in one day how to look at the golf course in a different way than I had before. That's the only reason, I can still play decently at my age. I should give up and play from the forward tees, which I do occasionally with one group who only play from them. It's just not the same for me. I always remember what my wife said, "look those old guys are playing from MY tees."

 

[Milspec]

I’m 55 in a couple months. I ran 10k today on Father’s Day and have been drinkin like a fish since (hey, it’s Father’s Day!). But, I feel old. Some young whipper snapper (what does that even mean, who came up with that) passed me runnin on a trail and I cursed him good. But hey, I was out there!

I still feel old. Bought wine at Safeway recently and they did not ask for ID even with my mask on. Ugh, I cursed that cashier too, (I curse a lot in my old age). I played my Tele as well today and worked on mixolydian scales to play over 7 chords.

Well .. I can still run 10k and drink. And I can pretend to play guitar. All is well bein old I guess.

Could be worse, I finished the Chicago Marathon at 47 only to be passed over the final mile by a guy who ran it backwards the whole way.

That will ruin your ego.

 

[Ronzo]

TD, sometimes it doesn’t happen from sports. My life changed forever in less than a second when I slipped on a wet spot on a dance floor while photographing a wedding - a side hustle for me at the time. I was 42. I had a similar injury to Napoleon McCallum, the Raiders’ running back.

You choose to make a life or not after that. Tennis was gone for good, but I could still hit a golf ball with a sort of “stack and tilt” swing off my left foot. In some ways, I improved. I had to think my way around the course, playing to flat spots to maintain my balance, and learning to hit a wedge to a reliable distance. I found the right putter for my swing (face balanced). But uneven ground is a challenge. And my chipping still sucks.

 

[Tenderfoot]

I'm 75 Old but young at heart!

 

[teleplayr]

Oh to be 48 again!

Then came Arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure & then Ankylosing Spondylitis (the same disease that Mick Mars has).

68 y.o. here.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Old is in the eye of the beholder, not the individual beholden. Everyone is old to someone else.

Re: Being old and out of shape - I have family who never took care of themselves and now have serious health consequences in their 60s. I have family, my mother for one, who ate well and exercised starting in her 20s and at 70 doesn't take a single pill or have any aches or pains. She walks miles every day.

Take care of yourself, is what I'm saying. With the exception of flukes, accidents, and genetics, poor health is often a completely preventable choice.

Some instances of poor health are self inflicted. But in the end, no matter how rigorous your exercise and diet and stress relief regimens, something is probably gonna get you. We're headed in the direction of, no death before 100 is "natural causes". Which is good - but is also kinda daunting if you think about it.

 

[Tenderfoot]

Some instances of poor health are self inflicted. But in the end, no matter how rigorous your exercise and diet and stress relief regimens, something is probably gonna get you. We're headed in the direction of, no death before 100 is "natural causes". Which is good - but is also kinda daunting if you think about it.

How very true.

 

[keithb7]

There are other things besides age that change us. It's not just simply aging.

Experience changes us. What we have lived through. How we have been treated. How we treated others. It all effects us and how we act.

When you are 25 and you buy your first home, you jump up to mow the lawn! You're proud and excited as its your very own lawn. 40 Years later, you've now mowed that lawn 600 times. You're over it. You probably aren't jumping at any opportunity to mow it by now. You now have other interests that you really enjoy. Maybe it's tube amp building. It's a new and exciting hobby. Ride that new and exciting hobby that you enjoy, for as long as you can. Maybe when you look up from your tube bench you see your wife using a broadcaster, spreading nitrogen fertilizer on the grass. She wants a nice green lawn that rivals Versailles. Yet she doesn't ever cut the lawn. She never bags the grass. She doesn't even load up the clippings and take them to the yard waste recycling site ever. When you do all this, it takes your time away from what you really want to be doing. Building tube amps. So you open your window and bark at your wife. "Stop putting fertilizer on the lawn. I'll have to cut it 3x a week!" She barks back, "Shut up old man. Quit being so grumpy. You used to love cutting the lawn. You're getting old".

Now, are you grumpy because you got old? Or is it the life experience that has changed your outlook? You know that adding fertilizer means you'll be doing 3x the work in a week that the lawn used to require. At 25 you have no idea. So of course you have a spring in your step.

Life...When you finally get it all sorted out, it's time to die.

 

[Alex_C]

I'm 57 and feel damn good. I eat healthy, run daily and lift weights 3 times a week. I also look to the positive as much as I can.

 

[mad dog]

I am old, and I am getting old. This has been going on for a long time now. I do know that older women tantalized me at one point in my life. Now women of that age are way younger than I am. (They still tantalize ...)

 

[Telekarster]

I am so fortunate, I have lived a good life, and continue to do so. I played golf yesterday with my wife, and son. I'm 79 years old, and my wife is seven months older than I am and looks like my daughter!

I've been mistaken for my wife's Father, even when we were in our late 30's, and she's only 1 year younger than me! LOL! I take it as a complement

 

[Telekarster]

I've lost people pretty much every age I've ever been, through one way or another. All of them taught me one final lesson when they left - "Live your life the best you can, with whatever time you have" Therefore, I try not to dwell on age too much i.e. I live in the moment and deal with whatever comes, good or bad. I live for experiences mostly. When Grumpy Old Men came out in the early 90's, something Burgess Meredith said really struck a chord with me, and he was in his 90's by then I think - "Experiences son! That's all there is! To everything!" I believe he was right and pretty much confirmation of what the people I'd lost by that time, and since, have always said to me too. FWIW man. Only other thing I'll add is this - You won't believe how FAST time flies as you get older! Days seem like hours to me now

 

[kbold]

I shall not go quietly!

Thanks Dylan.

Yes ... rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

[Toto'sDad]

I've lost people pretty much every age I've ever been, through one way or another. All of them taught me one final lesson when they left - "Live your life the best you can, with whatever time you have" Therefore, I try not to dwell on age too much i.e. I live in the moment and deal with whatever comes, good or bad. I live for experiences mostly. When Grumpy Old Men came out in the early 90's, something Burgess Meredith said really struck a chord with me, and he was in his 90's by then I think - "Experiences son! That's all there is! To everything!" I believe he was right and pretty much confirmation of what the people I'd lost by that time, and since, have always said to me too. FWIW man. Only other thing I'll add is this - You won't believe how FAST time flies as you get older! Days seem like hours to me now

Just like a toilet paper roll the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!