#gettingolder

A cool thing about getting older is...

I’ve been training my whole life to be an old man.

I got my first pipe when I was six. It was my

grandfather’s, though he hardly ever used it;

it still smells like tobacco, but the only thing

I inhale are memories.

My dad gave me my first pocket knife at ten,

and I promptly fell to whittling, carving sticks

and birds and other things that my future self

will think to bestow upon children my age.

I started wearing cardigans in high school before

they were cool again, and now I think they may

not be, but I’m not exactly sure, and if that isn’t

a sign of getting old, I don’t know what is.

In my twenties, I began commenting on the weather

to anyone who cared to listen—strangers, shoppers

in the checkout line—talking about how in

the good old days, we had more snow.

Then I started giving directions. I could tell you

how to get just about anywhere, and this was

before google maps, so sometimes people

actually listened to me.

There are shirts in my closet over thirty years old

and I still think about wearing them, hoping that

if I wait long enough, they will come back into

fashion. The same goes for my jokes.

One day, I will be an old man, and I will be very

good at it—years of training, dedication, wisdom,

a fully formed human being—yet they will look

upon me as only half a man, because when

Strange what??

When I was 5 she would have been 16 and wouldn’t have wanted to hang around with me in her spare time. By the time I was 10 she’d have been celebrating her 21st and definitely wouldn’t have been interested in a ten year old child! As we get older the gap starts to close. I’m 20 she’s 31, I’m 30 she’s 41 then all of a sudden I’m 66 and she’s 77 and we could almost be the same age! 

I shall tag the following 10 people for selfies as well ! I would love to see your faces! 🤓

@tank-so-average

@brujitaxcabrona

@sinistyx

@justalittlehopetrustandfairydust

@yourmadking

@the-brown-man

@michipichi12

@dipinthatxo

@neptunes-melody

@jaseminedenise