Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Age is the Rage

Inspired by thoughts on a post by Miss F, I am reminded of a dinner setting recently with friends, where an interesting conversation took place.

My husband and I were out with seven friends -- the oldest being 53 and the youngest 43 (with the exception of a random daughter - age 20 - who was the only real age outlier in the group).

Someone posed the question to the table -- if you could go back in time, what age would you want to go back to?

No one at the table wanted to go back to any age younger than 35. Not one. Several did not want to go younger than 40. The lone twenty-something present was extremely puzzled and surprised by that. She thought for sure that all the 'old' folks would want to be young, 'hip' and in their twenties again. But no one did. Not one of us.

I think that says a lot about life and how it gets better with age. We might be uncool and have a few more wrinkles and gray hair, but apparently, it's worth the trade-off, as evidenced by the responses at the table that night.

5 comments:

SandDancer said...

I would like to be 21 again but only with the hindsight of having already lived through it once so I don't make the same mistakes and appreciate youth more than I did first time round. Otherwise I wouldn't be in a rush to go back.

M said...

But even if you were able to go back with that perspective, no one around you would have it, and you'd be dealing with naive idiots all around (to you, anyway). Imagine having to date those guys again. Ick! That would really make me crazy! No, no, I don't want to go back!

Miss Forthright said...

I wouldn't want to go back one single day.

M said...

That was my answer at the table, Miss F. 'Now' rocks!

Anonymous said...

I don't think I'd want to go back either...

I've been so much happier in my 30s than I ever was in my 20s.

As I approach my 35th b'day I'm relieved no-one wanted to go back earlier than that!