Not old- not young.......but at a point in life where we begin to understand that every moment is gift! I was more worried about your damaged ankle- hoping all is well!
Jared, I've started looking into your past writings and I really enjoyed this one. I think you captured the anxieties of aging well: "To be left behind: by culture, by your own body, by the infinite possibilities which were once (but are no longer) available to you." Have you seen the movie The Substance? I feel like this film brilliantly captures the obsession that we place on youth, and how this obsession crowds out our ability to enjoy the rest of life after youth has faded. There is one particular scene in that movie where a minor character says to the aging protagonist (played by Demi Moore), "This part of your life still matters." Youth inevitably fades, and like you I am more and more seeing the physical breakdown of my body, the lack of resilience to even minor running-related injuries. But I am also growing in so many other areas. That's what I try to hold on to: every part of life matters, and like the Roman general points out, you only get one life, so you should squeeze enjoyment and appreciation out of every part of it.
Yeah, I really enjoyed The Substance. It’s funny, I never think to equate the physical process of growing old — your body deteriorating, etc. — with the temporal process, the slow narrowing of possibilities, time running out, and all that. I think it’s because I’m a man, and the physical part of aging hits differently than it does for a woman. But you’re right, it’s one in the same. I like that line. This part of life does matter.
I've thought about The Substance a lot lately, so much so that I actually wrote about it in my newsletter, The Evergreen Press (https://dl831.substack.com/p/parenting-femininity-and-the-substance). The lessons on femininity are applicable as I step into my role of raising a daughter, while the lessons on aging are, I think, pretty relevant to me as I rapidly approach my 40th year.
Forty-four. Two-thirds of sixty-six (your father). Half of Judi Dench. Half, less a year, of Robert Redford. Or, plus a year. Now I'm confused. You are an old ancient Roman, an ancient early Cro-Magnon, and a twenty-first century, brilliantly creative (still!) upstart whippersnapper. Wonderful times await, dear boy. But, please, wear shoes with sticky soles, and turn on the light when it's dark. Especially when you're watching a scary movie you've watched before, in someone's sunken living room that you forgot was sunken and you need to rush to the bathroom before that great jump scare scene comes whose terror you can embellish with your own perfectly timed shriek. It can hurt.
Not old- not young.......but at a point in life where we begin to understand that every moment is gift! I was more worried about your damaged ankle- hoping all is well!
Jared, I've started looking into your past writings and I really enjoyed this one. I think you captured the anxieties of aging well: "To be left behind: by culture, by your own body, by the infinite possibilities which were once (but are no longer) available to you." Have you seen the movie The Substance? I feel like this film brilliantly captures the obsession that we place on youth, and how this obsession crowds out our ability to enjoy the rest of life after youth has faded. There is one particular scene in that movie where a minor character says to the aging protagonist (played by Demi Moore), "This part of your life still matters." Youth inevitably fades, and like you I am more and more seeing the physical breakdown of my body, the lack of resilience to even minor running-related injuries. But I am also growing in so many other areas. That's what I try to hold on to: every part of life matters, and like the Roman general points out, you only get one life, so you should squeeze enjoyment and appreciation out of every part of it.
Yeah, I really enjoyed The Substance. It’s funny, I never think to equate the physical process of growing old — your body deteriorating, etc. — with the temporal process, the slow narrowing of possibilities, time running out, and all that. I think it’s because I’m a man, and the physical part of aging hits differently than it does for a woman. But you’re right, it’s one in the same. I like that line. This part of life does matter.
I've thought about The Substance a lot lately, so much so that I actually wrote about it in my newsletter, The Evergreen Press (https://dl831.substack.com/p/parenting-femininity-and-the-substance). The lessons on femininity are applicable as I step into my role of raising a daughter, while the lessons on aging are, I think, pretty relevant to me as I rapidly approach my 40th year.
Happy Birthday. The next stage of aging-denial is continually telling yourself that you’re still middle aged!
"The deals you make with yourself are the easiest to break, and also hurt the most." Ouch. Truth.
Forty-four. Two-thirds of sixty-six (your father). Half of Judi Dench. Half, less a year, of Robert Redford. Or, plus a year. Now I'm confused. You are an old ancient Roman, an ancient early Cro-Magnon, and a twenty-first century, brilliantly creative (still!) upstart whippersnapper. Wonderful times await, dear boy. But, please, wear shoes with sticky soles, and turn on the light when it's dark. Especially when you're watching a scary movie you've watched before, in someone's sunken living room that you forgot was sunken and you need to rush to the bathroom before that great jump scare scene comes whose terror you can embellish with your own perfectly timed shriek. It can hurt.