You know you are getting old when:

[Peacoat]

It's often said that you know you are getting old when police officers look younger. Thing is, I don't see that many police officers, for me, getting old means keeping to the speed limits.

That is exactly right. I used to work with police officers 3 or 4 times a week. One day it hit me how young they all were. This was reinforced when I started teaching at our police training academy.

The same is true for school teachers. About the time I noticed how young the officers were becoming, I noticed the same for the teachers when they would bring their classes to town for field trips. And all of that was twenty years ago.

Today our deputy sheriffs will sometimes stop and talk to me as I am practicing slow speed maneuvers on my motorcycle in the parking lot of our local park. Man, they are really young, like kids.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You know you're getting old when you're the only person in your social circle who has a vaccination scar.

 

[Fading Fast]

You know you're getting old when you're the only person in your social circle who has a vaccination scar.

And who doesn't have perfect teeth.

I continue to be amazed at how perfect 90%+ of the under 30 year olds' teeth are today (at least in the NYC region). It's not just that they've been straightened, but the gum lines look perfect, the shapes are correct and they are all bright white. Basically, they look movie-star perfect.

Growing up in the '70s, a lot of kids got their teeth straightened, but they didn't look anywhere as good as the kids' teeth of today.

 

[dnjan]

Also interesting seeing people who are now in their late 50's or early 60's and are currently wearing braces.
At least the industry has come up with those "almost invisible" braces.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's become very much a class marker around here -- you can instantly determine the social standing of a person by how straight and how blindingly white their teeth are. I see a lot of those inviso-braces on people in their thirties and forties who missed out on orthodontia as kids and are now racing to catch up.

I can think of a lot of things I'd like to fix about my creaking middle-aged body before I'd get around to worrying about my teeth. At least I've still got most of mine, crooked though they may be -- my mother was wearing full dentures before she was forty.

 

[dnjan]

Yes, the lips are usually closed in the casket, so why bother after a certain age.

 

[scottyrocks]

I think I'd like my eyes closed and mouth open. Then it'll look like I'm asleep.

 

[Fading Fast]

It's become very much a class marker around here -- you can instantly determine the social standing of a person by how straight and how blindingly white their teeth are. I see a lot of those inviso-braces on people in their thirties and forties who missed out on orthodontia as kids and are now racing to catch up.

I can think of a lot of things I'd like to fix about my creaking middle-aged body before I'd get around to worrying about my teeth. At least I've still got most of mine, crooked though they may be -- my mother was wearing full dentures before she was forty.

Everyone has his or her own priorities. I really want to keep my teeth and gums in good shape and have spent a ridiculous amount of money over the past decade getting them there. All the work I didn't have done as a kid, plus some usual middle-age stuff has kept several dentists busy. The funny thing is my top teeth were always straight and in pretty good shape, but the bottoms had several issues. So despite all the work, my "smile" doesn't look that much different and, to date, not one person, ever, has commented on all the improvement. But since I did it to keep my teeth, not advance a modeling career , making them look better was not the motivation.

 

[Zombie_61]

I think I'd like my eyes closed and mouth open. Then it'll look like I'm asleep.

And at your funeral we can all take turns trying to toss coins in during the eulogy.

 

[GHT]

Did you know that there are half a million centurians in the world today and that number is expected to increase ten fold over the next twenty years. We know a couple who are in their mid nineties, have been married for seventy years, their only daughter died from MS and all their peer group have also gone. It makes me think, would I want to be so old? Not really.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go right now. (Yes, that’s straight out of a country song.) Not sure I’d want to out-live all my friends And my children. The other day my aunt said “I can’t believe my children are all in their 60s.” Yet, my aunt is still sharp as a tack in her late 80s and —all in all— in pretty good shape ( no walker). When I was a kid, the grim reaper might show up when you were in your 60s. Now it seems like 80 is the new 60. And,yes, as Lizzie said, when I was a kid, my parents both had full dentures. The fact that I still have almost all of my teeth strikes me as a miracle. Another thing: most of the over 70 crowd that I know are still engaged in today’s news, politics, culture, etc. Most have cell phones and computers and are on top of things, thank you very much. I’m the one who is stuck in the Golden era, not them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Did you know that there are half a million centurians in the world today and that number is expected to increase ten fold over the next twenty years. We know a couple who are in their mid nineties, have been married for seventy years, their only daughter died from MS and all their peer group have also gone. It makes me think, would I want to be so old? Not really.

It's an unsettling thought to me to be introduced to a baby who, there is a better than even chance, will live to see the 22nd Century. That's Star Trek stuff.

 

[Trenchfriend]

When January weather makes you, as an 34 years old, more dizzy than ten years ago. Actually, we got this bad combination of glary-grey heaven, wind, drizzle and snow melt-air, in the middle of Germany.

 

[Zombie_61]

When January weather makes you, as an 34 years old, more dizzy than ten years ago. Actually, we got this bad combination of glary-grey heaven, wind, drizzle and snow melt-air, in the middle of Germany.

Just wait until you're even older. In my younger days I couldn't have cared less about rainy days, and regularly enjoyed going out to "play in the rain" while I was running errands or working. Now I find myself thinking more about all of the "hassles" associated with rainy days. "Ugh, traffic is going to suck." "Today it's going to be wet and cold, and my knees already ache." "Is the dog going to want to go outside or take his walk to 'take care of business' in this weather?" "I hope the roof doesn't leak." "Great, now I have to walk through all of that mud to take the trash out and roll the cans to the curb." Definitely "You know you're getting old when..." material.

 

[scottyrocks]

When January weather makes you, as an 34 years old, more dizzy than ten years ago.

34? Wait, let me get my violin. haha

 

[GHT]

34? Wait, let me get my violin. haha

 

[dnjan]

You know you are getting old when those "All you can eat" advertisements are of no interest whatsoever.

 

[Zombie_61]

You know you are getting old when those "All you can eat" advertisements are of no interest whatsoever.

Hmm...I haven't reached that particular milestone yet.

 

[scottyrocks]

You know you are getting old when those "All you can eat" advertisements are of no interest whatsoever.

Seriously! The wife and I were in ihop the other night. They're running an all-you-can-eat pancake special. The illustration showed a plate with a stack of pancakes that goes right out the top of the frame of the picture. We just looked at each other and laughed. haha

 

[Edward]

When you go on a night out with a friend, and realise in passing conversation you're only five years younger than her parents.

When one of your undergraduates knows the hot tv show from your university days..... because her parents have the DVDs.

The ultimate, though, is when, in passing, you refer to having been an undergrad in the OLden Days, and realise it's been over a decade since anyone laughed at that.