When Was the First Time You Felt "Old"?

[DVC2004]

Post inspired by my current surroundings. I am in my early thirties but I feel very old right now. I am travelling on business and the coworkers here that I am working with are all fresh out of college! I feel like I could be thier mom even though the age difference is probably only 10 years. LOL so help me feel like I am not alone here. When did you first feel the generational gap?

[SBETigg]

Some years ago, when watching the Olympics and I realized most of the Olympic athletes were much younger than I was. I remembered when they all seemed so grown up to me and suddenly they were all kids! Ouch.

I feel old this week because I'm dropping my firstborn off at college this weekend to start his first year.

[azdisneymom]

I felt old when we elected a President who was younger than me. :blush: Then again this week when my youngest left for her freshman year at college.

[Phantod]

When I talk to younger folks about their music, or I catch a list of the current "hit" songs....and I have no clue who ANY of the groups or singers are. That started happening a long time ago.

I think shortly after the Beatles broke up. :)

[badkitty]

When the kids I used to babysit graduated college...

[Aggie97]

I think it was when my little sister started high school. I was almost 16 when she was born. We lived apart in different states or countries from the time I went away to college (she wasn't even three at the time), so it was hard to imagine her all grown up. She is starting her sophomore year in college now... ugh! :blush:

[Tinkerfreak]

A few years ago my neice and I were listening to the radio and she said she liked a song and I said "I have that record in the basement" she asked me what a record was. Had never seen one only cd's and a cassette tape once or twice.

[Mousemates]

When I realizewd both my kids were in high school.

[Emme&TeddysMommy]

When my two year old pointed out "Mommy why is your hair two different colors?" I was mortified I am only 31.

[nyobabe2]

Well this is an almost everyday occurance with me because of the kids...but I have 2 major instances that stick in my mind.

About 4 years ago when I was 34 I visited my niece at college and stayed the weekend in her dorm. That was an eye opener and kind of depressing. Everyone she introduced me to looked at me like I was ancient! I guess I am in their eyes!

2nd time was driving my 7 and 9 yr old to school last year and was singing something on the radio and they we're looking at me out the corners of their eyes saying "yeah mom, that's enough"

Gotta love it!

[TheMartellFamily]

I am in my mid- thirties and I felt it when I had a doctor that was younger than I was.

[LauraF]

I know what you mean!

I'm in my early thrities too, and most of the my colleagues are around 25. It's not as much an age thing as a stage of life thing - I have a house, pets, a steady relationship and (reasonable) financial stability. They have apartments, hookups, go bar crawling, and struggle paycheck to paycheck.

I recall those days, and while I'm glad I'm past them, I have plenty of stories of my own to tell to help them realize I'm not that different from them. :D

[RAIDER]

Many years ago when i went to a club with my workmates and suddenly it hit me that i looked like a sad old man when all the young girls were around .... :(

[BigRedDad]

When I don't have the energy to do everything I want in a day. I guess the "old" bug really hit me on Dec 31st last year. My dad passed, I am the youngest sibling (just turned 39), and I am the one that has to keep the family together.

I really don't feel old. I am getting older, but I still prefer to have fun rather than worry about it. I have a 3yo DD and she keeps me busy. She is also the reason I am fighting to get back into shape. Not even close yet, but she is the goal.

[sportsguy2315]

I work at a science camp every summer, and the kids bring something to take apart and reinvent their device. Anyway, at the camp I was at a couple weeks ago, one of the kids had a cassette deck on the side of this old school radio that I was helping take apart. Upon finding the deck, I asked the kid if he knew what a cassette is. He gives me this look like "You're crazy". I then ask if he knows what a CD is. Still no luck. I then have to tell him the evolution from cassette to CD to iPod/mp3. Man I feel old! :)

[Ian]

Three big ones for me:
I'm a big music guy and used to be up on all the current bands. One day I turned on the radio and I kept hopping from station to station and couldn't find a single song I knew! From that day on, I only listen to my iPod in the car. ;)
This day will forever stick out in my mind. I'm in my office at home and I have music blasting from my PC. My daughter, then 2 years old, is walking by with my wife and to entertain her I start jumping around, dancing, and singing to the song. She looks at me and screams, "STOP IT!! YOU'RE NOT COOL, DADDY!!" When a 2 year old has figured out that you aren't cool anymore, that's pretty much rock bottom. :(
When I turned 40. :crying:

[Disney Doll]

I work at a university and it really hit me last year when freshmen had birthdays in 1990. I mean the 90's were just a few years ago. You can't come to college if you were only born in the 90's, right?

Also, the college where I previously worked still had a few carbon forms that had to be completed with a typewriter. I once asked a student worker if she could type up a form for me and she looked at me like I was nuts. She had never seen a real typewriter.

[Jeff G]

Three big ones for me:

This day will forever stick out in my mind. I'm in my office at home and I have music blasting from my PC. My daughter, then 2 years old, is walking by with my wife and to entertain her I start jumping around, dancing, and singing to the song. She looks at me and screams, "STOP IT!! YOU'RE NOT COOL, DADDY!!" When a 2 year old has figured out that you aren't cool anymore, that's pretty much rock bottom. :(


At least you think you're cool:D.

This year it's starting to hit me. I had to plan a 40th birthday party for my best friend, my DD turned 13 and I had my 20th high school graduation.

These events made me think.... I was 17 when I graduated and now I'm celebrating 20 years being out, ouch. I remember with detail turning 13 and I also remember thinking how old my parent were when we celebrated their 40th birthdays.

Until this year I never thought of myself as old but that is changing.:old:

[drummerboy]

When I was a teenager in the 60s, the 30s seemed like the stone ages to me. To a teenager now, the 60s must seem neolithic.

[drummerboy]

On the other hand, they say that you're only as old as you feel, so some days I'm 100+ and some days I'm still a teenager. :D

[Advnt05]

I have two instances:
1) First time someone says "yes sir"
2) At the age of 42, just had our first baby. We dressed our baby in a shirt that said "That's it, I'm going to grandmas" and headed for our first visit to grandma's house. We stopped to feed her at the MS visitors center where I was asked by the woman working there, "Is this your first grandchild"? :jaw:

[Princess'Mom]

1. When the bag boy at the grocery store calls you "Ma'am".
2. This past weekend when I got carded at the store for buying a bottle of wine. I'm thinking to myself - "Wow! I haven't been carded in years! I must be looking really young today!" Then I read the sign on the counter - We card everyone for any alcohol purchase.

Right then and there - I realized - I'm old or as I prefer to think of it as having a lot of worldly experience!

[RocknBev]

Just this year...when one of my former students commented that he was sending his son off to high school....wow....that's when I knew I had joined the ranks of the old teachers.

What's interesting is that most of my friends are now sending their kids to high school or maybe freshman year college...so he was a youngster when he started having kids but that's beside the point!

I guess turning 41 bothered me a bit as well....thinking that I was "over 40" kind of got to me.

[MNNHFLTX]

I knew I was getting older (sorry, can't bring myself to say "old") when I realized that many of the doctors at the hospital where I worked were now younger than me. That was an eye-opener!

[diz_girl]

When I turned 40. :crying:
[/LIST]

:ditto: And it was only a month ago, but seems like forever. Which was around the time that I came to the realization that I may need to start dyeing my hair :(

And about a year ago, my cousin who is only two years older than me became a grandfather. That can make you really feel old. Luckily, my DS is only two, so he makes me feel young.

But going to WDW always makes me feel young.

[Ed]

The first time somebody who I know was older than me addressed me as "Sir".

And when we had a yard sale, one of the items we were selling was an electric typewriter. A young kid looked it over, then asked "Where's the monitor?"

:old:

I may be getting older, but I refuse to grow up!

:cool:

[pianobabe]

Last Friday was my birthday. When I was getting ready for work, I just looked in the mirror for a few minutes thinking "No, you're not getting old". Then on Saturday when I went to get out of bed, my knee's popped and my back was hurting. That was my "welcome to old age greeting". I guess it really is all down-hill from here.

[Katzateer]

1. When my daughters were in preschool and I realized I was as old as a lot of the grandmothers of these kids.

Our youngest takes dance. One of the dance mothers we are good friends with - her mom is actually 5 years younger than me. We go on trips with this dance mom and even met her and her daughter at WDW one year. When we are together it is just having fun with a good friend until I think about the age difference then I feel old.

2. When my girls had friends over and they couldn't figure out how to use the rotary dial telephone on our kitchen wall.

3. When I realized I was older than my parents were when I got married (I was 20 when I got married so they were in their late 40's). They seemed so OLD when we got married.

[Cinderelley]

I've always felt old when my kids hit their milestones, but it really started weighing on me when my oldest graduated 8th grade. I was 32 then. He's out of high school and in the Navy now, so I'm well on my way down the slippery slope.

I've been getting gray since my early 20s, so that doesn't affect me too much.

On a semi-comical note, one of the guys at work was reminiscing about his younger days and lamenting being older. One of the younger techs (in her early 20s) came by and asked him "Did you cry when the dinosaurs died?" We all had a good laugh.

[Ian]

:ditto: And it was only a month ago, but seems like forever.Wow ... we must be very close to the same age, because mine was about a month and a half ago!


I may be getting older, but I refuse to grow up!:cool:Amen, brutha.

[Melanie]

This morning when I watched my oldest get on the bus for his first year of middle school. :(

[diz_girl]

Wow ... we must be very close to the same age, because mine was about a month and a half ago!

We are. My birthday was July 18th and I think that yours is July 7th (or so). A bunch of us 40-year-olds posted that we were only days or weeks old on the 'Where were you during the moon landing' thread last month, and I remembered that you were one of them.

So happy belated birthday.

But you're not old. Just think of how many WDW trips that you have in your future.

[TiggerD]

The first time I felt old was when our oldest went off to college, 2nd time was when he presented me with our first grandson, and the 3rd was when our youngest son recently had his first child. All in all being 56 is not so bad, the grandchildren keep me young and busy and as Tigger says"I've got a lot of bouncin to do", I also have a lot of bouncin left in me and plan on enjoying every minute of it.:mickey:

[Ian]

So happy belated birthday.Thanks! You too!! :party:


But you're not old. Just think of how many WDW trips that you have in your future.Hopefully a lot, but my Dad died at age 55 so there's a chance I only have 15 years left! :eek:

[SBETigg]

Thanks! You too!! :party:

Hopefully a lot, but my Dad died at age 55 so there's a chance I only have 15 years left! :eek:

My dad's parents both died before age 50. I grew up with my dad saying he wouldn't make it past 50. Then it was 60. Now it's 70 (and we just roll our eyes). I think there's a good chance you'll make it, old man. :thumbsup:

But keep taking frequent WDW trips in case.

[jillluvsdisney]

Realizing a majority of major league baseball players are younger than me made me feel old.

All kidding aside, I felt very old and suddenly grown up when my father had open heart surgery 3 months ago. That was a total reality check for me.

[pink]

I worked at a summer camp and the kids were guessing our ages. One of the kids told me "You can't be younger than 34." I was seventeen at the time. :(

Haha, no a very epic moment but that has been my only memorable "old" moment so far. :mickey:

[citizensnoopy]

I knew I was getting older (sorry, can't bring myself to say "old") when I realized that many of the doctors at the hospital where I worked were now younger than me. That was an eye-opener!

Likewise, I've started to feel old now that I have third-year medical students under my supervision! :D

[Ian]

Realizing a majority of major league baseball players are younger than me made me feel old.Ha ha ... that's actually one I left off my list ...

I distinctly remember ripping some football team for signing a guy and saying, "The dude's like 100 years old! He's done!"

At which point my one friend kindly pointed out the the player was, in fact, a year younger than I am!

Ooops. :blush:

[Marilyn Michetti]

I take my mom to dialysis, and one day one of the nurses patted her hand, and said, "it's so nice that your sister brings to to treatment." That was the day I met Miss Clairol. (I'm only 65).:blush:

[diz_girl]

I recently started having some "old" moments when I walk by or into a store and say that the music is too loud or that it's garbage.

Don't old people say that?

In my defense, since when did stores (other than music stores) start to have really loud music? No 'since you got old' comments please. Also in my defense, most new music out there is garbage. A lot of music of any single generation is. No generation can get by without a lot of stinkers in their music repertoire.

[darthmacho]

For parents, age is always put into perspective when you inevitably say, "Oh my! My child is (blank) years old!" It doesn't matter if your child is 5 or 50, it really makes you know that life is way too short.

On a more personal nature, I felt old when I was in my early thirties and I went to a rock concert. I don't even remember who it was (Marilyn Manson maybe?) but I looked around and there were almost all teenage kids surrounding me. I felt ridiculously out of place and decided to go to concerts with a crowd more my age after that.

[SandmanGStefani24]

i just recently turned 30, and i fortunately still look relatively young. most take me for 21-24 or thereabouts. kids think i'm cool because im into all the current trends, and older people think im young for the same reasons. still, it hits me everyso often. i work retail sales and meet lots of people and families.

key points, when talking about something current like guitar hero, and Guns N' Roses is featured. I listened to them, and still do but I keep forgetting that 1987 was 22 YEARS AGO! And most kids who play the game were babies or worse, not born yet! It's already classic to them, but still current to me! :(

Or when they think I'm just a little older and they ask me when I graduated (high school) and seeing the shocked look on their faces when they realize I am almost their parent's age. I'm glad im not aging to badly, but i am all the more aware that I'm not the kid i used to be.

bummer!

[Septbride2002]

When I started realizing that professional athletes were younger then me was a HUGE I feel old moment for me and I am only 29.

Probably the biggest thing was when I realized I just cannot get away with walking out of the house w/o makeup on. I use to NEVER EVER wear makeup and my skin had this lovely glow to it (comes from being Irish pale) but not so much now.

~Amanda

[darthmacho]

When I started realizing that professional athletes were younger then me was a HUGE I feel old moment for me and I am only 29.
~Amanda

Haha good point! I felt the same way when I realized that grizzled veteran Red Sox catcher, the captain of the team, and possibly washed up, Jason Varitek is a YEAR YOUNGER THAN ME! Ouch. Apparently Mike Lowell is FOUR YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME, and David Ortiz is FIVE YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME. How can that be? I guess I am getitng old.

[Septbride2002]

Haha good point! I felt the same way when I realized that grizzled veteran Red Sox catcher, the captain of the team, and possibly washed up, Jason Varitek is a YEAR YOUNGER THAN ME! Ouch. Apparently Mike Lowell is FOUR YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME, and David Ortiz is FIVE YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME. How can that be? I guess I am getitng old.

I find margaritas help you forget about being old....until the next day when you can't suffer through a hangover like you use to. ;)

~Amanda

[Mickey91]

A few years ago I tried to teach my daughter how to do a cartwheel. I made a successful cartwheel, but I was sooooo sore for like the next week!! EVERY MUSCLE IN MY BODY HURT!!!:D

[drummerboy]

DW and I have realized that we've both started grunting when we get up from our chairs.

[Marilyn Michetti]

Go to an antique store, and point at this and this and this, and say, "We used to have one of those".:D

[mickeys_princess_mom]

1.) When I decided to answer this thread...
2.) When I tried to teach my daughter how to roller skate, something I had never really done cause we lived in the country. Not too old to skate--just too old to fall.
3.) When I mustered the courage to head back to college the day my youngest started kindergarten, and in the very first class of the day the professor told us to each state our name and the year we graduated H.S. What was the point of that?! Brought it home pretty fast. The cool part was though that the class was British Lit., and pretty soon the rest of the
"kids" were lost, and the prof and I enjoyed discussing the books pretty much exclusively (we were about the same age). Kind of gave me back my confidence:)

[disneykid@hrt]

I'm only 26 BUT...

When my mom and I said the same thing to my daughter at the same time...

[DisneyRN]

I don't feel old certain weeks...but I feel very old at other times.

For example, as of recently, 3 college freshmen have moved in upstairs in my apartments. They do not live directly above me; they are just in my building. What annoys me is that there are ALWAYS people over. And when I say people, I mean like 20-30 people. There is NEVER parking at my building. For the past week I have been sick with Swine Flu. Do you think I want to park far away and walk with a bunch of stuff to my building?

That said, I just turned 31, I still go out when I am not studying for my Master's classes/have DD/working, so I thought I felt fairly young. But, when I started yelling at the college kids for having too many people over and having too many cars parked here, I felt VERY old. :blush:

Somewhere after 28-30 you start seeing things in a different light.

[ElenitaB]

The first time I really felt OLD was when I was temping at a PR agency a few years ago, and while talking with a co-worker, discovered that we were both SUNY Albany alumni. However, the year I graduated was the year she was born! Talk about feeling old! :blush:

I no longer fret about being old though... with a dad and many aunts who died young, I consider growing old to be a privilege. After all, consider the alternative!

[Marilyn Michetti]

The (georgeous) 20 year old trainer at the gym pats my hand, and says, "you're doing fine, DEAR.":)

[AdventurerKim]

I really felt old last year when none of my sixth grade students knew what a "record" was, as in music vinyl, which I collect and still play. I feel old when I read that a celebrity that looks my age or older and is actually younger then me. Normally I don't think about my age unless a situation comes up that reminds me of it, although I am grateful not to be a teenager these days.

[Kenny1113]

A few years ago I tried to teach my daughter how to do a cartwheel. I made a successful cartwheel, but I was sooooo sore for like the next week!! EVERY MUSCLE IN MY BODY HURT!!!:D

I did this as well for my kids, hurt so bad I decided not to go for the round-off !

As for when I felt old... Today I had to go to the university to do some stuff for school (taking online courses for a higher degree). Everyone was so young and every one at the information desks I went to for help would give me that look.

[AHOTE]

:) I knew I was :old: when I realized that 2011 it will be the 40th anniversary of the opening of WDW and that most of the people who have responded to this thread had yet to be born in 1971!

[Cinderelley]

:) I knew I was :old: when I realized that 2011 it will be the 40th anniversary of the opening of WDW and that most of the people who have responded to this thread had yet to be born in 1971!

I was born in 1971. Maybe I should celebrate my 40th bday with WDW.

[teambricker04]

Post inspired by my current surroundings. I am in my early thirties but I feel very old right now. I am travelling on business and the coworkers here that I am working with are all fresh out of college! I feel like I could be thier mom even though the age difference is probably only 10 years. LOL so help me feel like I am not alone here. When did you first feel the generational gap?

Well, you don't work with my DH! He is in an industry where people aren't retiring... he is one of the youngest in this large coporation and a lot of the people are around 20 years older than him. He gets comments all the time about being an "intern" which he hasn't been in a very very long time. :blush:

My thing is when I go to the doctor and he or she is much more educated than I am and yet so much younger. I think to myself "When did you have the time to do this?!?!?" It makes me laugh every time!

I am also in my early 30s and don't feel old in the least. Nothing hurts, my eyesight is the same, I can stay up late and get up early (not like I use to, I guess but enough for me!)... over all I am enjoying growing older and life changes.

[Tinkerfreak]

Well when I woke up this morning and realized today is my 41st birthday I felt old. I prefer to call it the 2nd anniversary of my 39th birthday just to make me feel better.

I think the hardest though was last year when I was 40 and went for my yearly physical, dental cleaning etc. everyone kept saying "well now that you are 40 you need to......... yada yada yada" People stop reminding me I am 40 paaaleeeese!!!!!
Because my birthday is on 9/11 I never celebrate it on the actual day. Just a personal choice out of respect. Since turning 40 I really don't feel like celebrating and kind of just want to pretend it isn't my birthday and that I am not getting older.

[AHOTE]

Well when I woke up this morning and realized today is my 41st birthday I felt old. I prefer to call it the 2nd anniversary of my 39th birthday just to make me feel better.

That's the way to go... I celebrated the 21st anniversary of my 39th birthday this year. :thumbsup:

BTW Happy Anniversary :birthday::pixie::pixie:

[EPCOT84]

:unsure: I started to feel old when I started to train new employees who just graduated from college and weren't even born when I started working.

:( I started to feel old when I hear myself saying "back in the 80's" but it still feels like just 10 years ago

:( Finding myself saying things that used to be 'old folks' phrases : "back in my day...", ''you were too young to remember this..."

:covered: Reading the post above about college freshman born in the 90's

:cry: Reading that it is nearly 40 ! years since WDW opened (that really scared me)...

[ibrowse17]

When I had to wear glasses to enjoy Intercot:thumbsup:

[Tinksalot]

I felt old when my youngest granddaughter told me "Grandma you're old, and you're gonna die soon". OUCH! I'm only mid-fifties!!! :(

[Hull-onian]

Not yet, it's too soon. LOL

[d_m_n_n]

Go to an antique store, and point at this and this and this, and say, "We used to have one of those".:D

Oh, yeah! I also do this at our State Museum...I believe it was the Atari on the wall...and DSs looked at me and said, "You are old, Mom." Yeah, well...this old mom still knows how to have fun!!! :D

But I guess last weekend was when it *really* started to hit me. We went to a college football game and I couldn't believe how young the students looked...I thought I was so grown up and knew it all as a Freshman... :(

[brad192]

It was in the late '90's, and I think I was about 35. I was rehearsing for a summer musical I was involved in & we were rehearsing that night at the local middle school. The school was having some sort of show involving the students. I took a break & headed for the restroom. As I was standing there, taking care of business, someone entered & stood next to me. He asked me if I had a son or daughter in the show. I laughed & said no, finished up and headed back to rehearsal.

Halfway back it hit me like a ton of bricks - I actually WAS old enough to have a child in middle school! :faint: I haven't been the same since.:old:

[Lisaj13]

1. The gas station attendant called me ma'am.

2. My youngest turned 13 in August. My baby is so NOT a baby any more.

3. My oldest will be in University next year.

I swear that the older I get the faster time goes by.

[Mickey'sGirl]

I have two dogs with long white hairs in thier tail feathering.

A couple of weeks ago, my DS11 said "Mom, you have some dog hair in your hair". I said "That's not dog hair, it's my new Arctic blonde highlights". He said "I guess you are getting old." I said "I guess so."

Outta the mouths of babes, eh? :old:

[weswerx]

sounds like somebody needs a trip to the fountain of youth, a.k.a. WDW!
:mickey:

Next time someone asks you how old you are and the number scares you, just think "how old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?":cool: