Bo Derek was photographed talking to "Maggie Q", whoever the fuck that is. This is a stupid "news" item and the only reason I'm writing this at all is because of how their respective ages were so prominently displayed. Bo Derek is 65, and whoever Maggie Q is is 42. Their ages were in the banner headline for God's sake. And so? Frankly I find people's fixation on other people's ages bizarre. One time a relatively new friend asked me how old I was and he looked at me - and reacted - like I was Methuselah, but it turns out I was just two years older than he was. What causes that disconnect? What made him think I was "so old" while he presumably imagined he was still a teenager, despite the fact that we would have attended high school at exactly the same time and experienced exactly the same things, at exactly the same chronological moment? I just do not understand it, there must be some psychological reason for it. As usual, I blame the internet.
And honestly, I thought Bo Derek was older than that. Not based on her appearance but because her first movie was "10" and that was in the 1979 when she was 23 years old, and Smokey and the Bandit Trans Ams, and disco still ruled the world, which seems like it was 110 years ago. Anyway, these two, despite their almost 25 year age difference are basically peers. I know it's a gap but hear me out. They both remember (mostly) the same presidents, their frames of reference are (again, mostly) the same. Barring any disagreement socially, they could easily (mostly) hang out together with the same group of people. It's a case by case thing. My neighbor was a Korean War vet in his 70s when we met and he was just about the coolest guy I ever knew. Yeah so maybe it's me. Maybe I'm the one with the distorted view but I don't know. But I do have some bad news for you. If you're pushing 40 you're middle aged.
If you have kids, a husband/wife and a mortgage, and a dog, you're middle aged. Why do you think most municipalities have an upper age limit for when you can join the police force or the fire department? How about the military? Usually beginning in the early 30s It's because you're old, and mentally set in your ways, and you aren't as physically capable as you were when you were 18 or 20 or 25. Don't believe me? Just look at your friends that graduated from school with you 10 or 15 or 20 years ago. So maybe none of that applies to you specifically, but it applies generally. And there's nothing wrong with that.
In fact, I think the only time anyone's age should be displayed is if they're under 30 or maybe even 35. Because much after 30 or 35 physical appearances can camouflage someone's life experience and everyone knows everyone under 30 is a moron. This way you have a little warning about who you're dealing with. And trust me, there's been plenty of times when I wish I was warned. So get it together. We all get only so many trips around the sun here.
