Inspired by the final blog post of Obesio the Loser, a former online-friend, here’s a list of stuff I’ve noticed over the decades.
1. Sometimes it gets better. Sometimes it doesn’t.
2. No two people are exactly alike, but few people are genuinely special.
3. I still don’t know what love is and I suspect I’m not alone.
4. Women say they like to look good for themselves, but they’re still judging themselves by the standards others have taught them.
5. People will sometimes deny that someone in their lives has depression because they don’t want to face their own.
6. It’s bizarre and disturbing the way Americans see their pets as children or “fur babies,” and the rest of the world agrees with me.
7. Enough Little Debbie snack cakes will make it better for a little while.
1. Sometimes it gets better. Sometimes it doesn’t.
2. No two people are exactly alike, but few people are genuinely special.
3. I still don’t know what love is and I suspect I’m not alone.
4. Women say they like to look good for themselves, but they’re still judging themselves by the standards others have taught them.
5. People will sometimes deny that someone in their lives has depression because they don’t want to face their own.
6. It’s bizarre and disturbing the way Americans see their pets as children or “fur babies,” and the rest of the world agrees with me.
7. Enough Little Debbie snack cakes will make it better for a little while.
8. When you create your own family of friends, you know who they were at the end of your life when you look back and see who was there for you.
9. When a man dives in and plants his lips on yours before you can react, past generations called that “stealing a kiss.” We now know it’s “assault.”
10. People who don’t remember their dreams when they wake up are the lucky ones.
11. Hugs matter.
12. Not everyone can do what they love.
13. Making friends with strangers isn’t hard, but it takes confidence, or at least acting like you have confidence.
14. To others, there is no difference between having confidence and acting like you have confidence.
15. “Middle age” is the middle of life. If we typically live into our 70s, then I, at 51, am well past middle age and I’m okay with that.
16. Being the oldest child is hard and that never stops.
17. Experts who tell you it’s easier to keep weight off than to lose it are idiots for stating the obvious, but they’re right.
18. Pets are good for people with mental illness, unless your symptoms include a bad emotional response to pets.
19. When someone younger than you says they feel old, don’t disagree. They are the oldest they’ve ever been and their feeling of being old is legitimate.
20. Everyone has an area of expertise, whether it’s professional such as law, or not-so-professional such as how to hang Christmas lights, how to be a good neighbor or how to parallel park.
21. Practice physically balancing your body. It will matter more and more as you age. When you get very old, it will be critical.
22. Not everyone can be whatever they want to be.
23. Keep in mind that the old person who’s holding up the line for the bus isn’t driving and causing accidents.
24. You can’t cure families, you can only prevent them.
25. I’m suspicious of people who don’t use swear words.
26. When someone who looks perfectly able-bodied uses a handicapped space, don’t judge. There are many illnesses and disorders that aren’t visually apparent.
27. Many people live small lives because that’s what they can do, and that’s okay.
28. People who have cut family members out of their lives have usually done it for very good reasons. “But he’s/she’s your father/mother/brother/sister” doesn’t hold up against decades of abuse.
9. When a man dives in and plants his lips on yours before you can react, past generations called that “stealing a kiss.” We now know it’s “assault.”
10. People who don’t remember their dreams when they wake up are the lucky ones.
11. Hugs matter.
12. Not everyone can do what they love.
13. Making friends with strangers isn’t hard, but it takes confidence, or at least acting like you have confidence.
14. To others, there is no difference between having confidence and acting like you have confidence.
15. “Middle age” is the middle of life. If we typically live into our 70s, then I, at 51, am well past middle age and I’m okay with that.
16. Being the oldest child is hard and that never stops.
17. Experts who tell you it’s easier to keep weight off than to lose it are idiots for stating the obvious, but they’re right.
18. Pets are good for people with mental illness, unless your symptoms include a bad emotional response to pets.
19. When someone younger than you says they feel old, don’t disagree. They are the oldest they’ve ever been and their feeling of being old is legitimate.
20. Everyone has an area of expertise, whether it’s professional such as law, or not-so-professional such as how to hang Christmas lights, how to be a good neighbor or how to parallel park.
21. Practice physically balancing your body. It will matter more and more as you age. When you get very old, it will be critical.
22. Not everyone can be whatever they want to be.
23. Keep in mind that the old person who’s holding up the line for the bus isn’t driving and causing accidents.
24. You can’t cure families, you can only prevent them.
25. I’m suspicious of people who don’t use swear words.
26. When someone who looks perfectly able-bodied uses a handicapped space, don’t judge. There are many illnesses and disorders that aren’t visually apparent.
27. Many people live small lives because that’s what they can do, and that’s okay.
28. People who have cut family members out of their lives have usually done it for very good reasons. “But he’s/she’s your father/mother/brother/sister” doesn’t hold up against decades of abuse.
29. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do for someone, and you have to accept that.
30. Every American generation aged with grace until the Baby Boomers rejected aging and all terms such as senior, elderly and early bird dinner. They insist they’re “middle-aged” into their 60s. I’m counting on Generation X and Millennials to resume aging gracefully as the way to face life.
30. Every American generation aged with grace until the Baby Boomers rejected aging and all terms such as senior, elderly and early bird dinner. They insist they’re “middle-aged” into their 60s. I’m counting on Generation X and Millennials to resume aging gracefully as the way to face life.
14 February 2018
Wow, Tom. You know me from way back when I used to try to busk. Thanks for keeping up the connection! I also blog simply because I like blogging. I feel no responsibility to anyone for how often I write or what I write about. Yay, us!
Thanks for coming over to my blog – yours is interesting as usual! I met you many many years back playing music on some street on the fountain side of downtown Chicago and have linked to your blog from both of mine ever since. You are one of the few survivors of the many bloggers I followed back then. Mine have survived mostly because I write them for my own benefit. I like this post & I like the way blogging helps you crystallize your opinions…keep it up & thanks!