The Fountain of Old

Another year has passed like a week and as I celebrated my birthday yesterday I contemplated the aging of human kind. I just turned 42 and I hardly consider that old but I remember how old someone my age seemed when I was 18. I don’t feel old on the inside - my mind still thinks I’m in my late 20’s and I guess that is a good thing. My body however tells a different story. Even though I’ve been told I look young for my age, the gray hair (white?) that started in my 30’s is more than evident and the lines are starting to stay even when I’m not laughing. I’m not worried about getting old – in fact my goal is to live to at least 100 provided I have my faculties about me. Genetics might be on my side as my Grandmother who just passed this year was 101.

Still the thought of looking older isn’t very appealing. Science has helped us cheat death but we have not yet found the fountain of youth. Therefore we are growing into a population of the aged. If I do live to be 100 or more I’ll have lived over 2/3 of my life as an old person in they eyes of an 18 year old. I wonder if science will ever find a way to make the body age slower to match our increased longevity. I mean real science, not facelifts and plastic surgery that so many people now resort to. I suppose it is bound to happen sooner or later, but until then I guess I’ll embrace my gray hair and lines along with everyone else. At the rate the years are flying by I will be 100 by next week anyway.