Old White Men

In the past 3 years I have been to several concerts by bands that were "in" when I was in my twenties and thirties or to see other performers, who are my parents' age or older by now. Some of them are remarkably fit and still have a strong voice. With others, you get a rush of nostalgia mixed with pity as you are pretty certain that this is likely the last time you will ever see them live.
Moreover, they are on average 25 years older than me and it also makes me wonder - while, obviously I'm not a performing artist - when I will enter that stage of people finding me low-key cringe and wishing I would stop whatever I was doing. As long as I will be able to read the room and find out myself, it's okay, but otherwise I might have to ask for (not so?) subtle signals...

Forever-Child

I may be 50+ and arguably approaching "old lady"- territory (eeek!) myself, but I still appreciate getting an "Easter nest" by my mum. Granted, I don't have to search for it in the garden anymore and pretend I believe that Easter Bunny hid it, but know that it will wait for me on the chair next to mine at the dining table. It is lovely a warm and reassuring feeling to know that even if I am by no means a child any more, I will be spoilt by my mother as long as she is able to do so. Time is precious and I value time with my parents all the more now that they are officially old. I was lucky enough to have been spoilt by grandmothers and great-aunts for decades, but now it's just my mother, who very much regrets not having grandchildren she can spoil rotten and therefore focuses all her gift-giving energy on me (and Highflyer)...

Blink

 

Earlier this month, I wished a good friend a happy 50th, hoping she'd spend a great day with her family. Little did I know (in fact I only found out yesterday) that her birthday took a horrible turn when towards the end of an extended bike trip (the whole family are passionate cyclists) her husband suffered cardiac arrest and despite help arriving quickly and a lot of lucky circumstances happening the short version of the story is that he has been in an induced coma ever since, not yet able to breathe by  himself. Under "normal circumstances" you push away the fact just how quickly a happy day can take a turn for the worse when an inattentive driver who's texting on his phone runs over someone or as in this case, a heart just stops beating and your loved one's lives are turned upside down at the blink of an eye. It's not that you have never heard such stories (and thankfully, often also their happy endings), but you hope that it won't ever be somebody close to you.

Cancelled

Few things compare to the bliss of finding out a work event that you were not that keen on in the first place is cancelled at short notice. Other people might be annoyed because they already invested so much time and effort preparing for it, but you, being yourself, had put your stakes on performing best with a bit of time-pressure and adrenaline, so, yeah, you'll survive...