You know you are getting old when:

[DesertDan]

I was born and raised in the South and the Southwest in a very strict family that observed "proper" southern manners.
This loosened up a bit after my father died and we moved to Texas but nonetheless, adults were always addressed as Mr/Mrs/Miss Last Name, even family friends and I never addressed adult relatives by first name only, the closest we got to that would be "Uncle Bob" or "Aunt Pat". Dad, Mom, Mamaw, Grandad were acceptable but always responded to with "Yes Ma'am", "No Sir" when speaking to any adults/elders. I carry those habits to this day.

 

[GHT]

What bugs me is the insistence that any woman over 40 or so needs to cut her hair into a short, severe crop. It's a big cultural thing here -- the "menopausal helmet" -- and one which I feel quite free to ignore. My hair's up under a head rag most of the time, but I reserve the right to let it down any damn time I feel like it. And no, dying a streak of your Menopausal Helmet blue or green doesn't make it any more flattering, or you any more "hip."

It seems that the older you get the more the thought and fashion police go into overdrive as to how you should look and behave. Here's one 92 year old granny who cocks a snook at convention. Keep watching, two minutes in and she will blow you away.

 

[sufidancer]

When you post in the Fedora Lounge.

 

[green papaya]

When you remember how it was when you were young at the beach with a woman in each arm

you were their "dreamboat"

 

[Trenchfriend]

When you got your modern-times radio-controlled alarmclock in the bedroom since 1996.

 

[shazzabanazza]

You know your getting old when your kids tell you so lol
My 9 year old son had the good grace other day to inform me that 32 is old! haha

 

[Trenchfriend]

@shazzabanazza
Ah, welcome to the "club of 32".

 

[Fading Fast]

You know your getting old when your kids tell you so lol
My 9 year old son had the good grace other day to inform me that 32 is old! haha

In a variation on the theme, try to think about how old you thought a 32 year old was when you were 9. Being honest, I loved my grandmother who passed away at about 78 (no birth certificate was found so it's an estimate), but you could have told me she was 130 and I'd have believed it when i was 6.

The "don't trust anyone over 30" thing was, in part, because when you are young, anyone over 30 might as well be 100 as they are all just in one big pile of "old."

Now that I'm 52, I see a lot more nuance to the age thing than I did at 10 .

 

[LizzieMaine]

You know you're getting old when there's dirt under your refrigerator that's older than 32.

 

[HudsonHawk]

In a variation on the theme, try to think about how old you thought a 32 year old was when you were 9. Being honest, I loved my grandmother who passed away at about 78 (no birth certificate was found so it's an estimate), but you could have told me she was 130 and I'd have believed it when i was 6.

The "don't trust anyone over 30" thing was, in part, because when you are young, anyone over 30 might as well be 100 as they are all just in one big pile of "old."

Now that I'm 52, I see a lot more nuance to the age thing than I did at 10 .

I remember thinking the same way. If you were old, you were just old. I remember thinking I'd neve reach 30...that was just too far away to comprehend. Now, 32 years ago I was in college.

 

[2jakes]

The Woolrich I bought new at Sears Roebuck & Co.
in the ‘60s and is still good to wear, & now available in the
antique shops.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In Maine, that's a church coat. Worn with a flannel shirt and a tie.

 

[2jakes]

This is the closest I’ve been with regards to your lovely realm in Maine.

 

[2jakes]

In Maine. that’s a church coat. Worn with a flannel shirt and a tie.

Have flannel shirt.
No tie.
Will this do?

 

[Fading Fast]

When the Woolrich you bought new at Sears Roebuck & Co.
in the ‘60s and is still good to wear, is now available in the
antique shops.

⇧ That's great. I have a 1980s (nothing as far back as you) tweed herringbone sport coat from Brooks Brothers that the vintage guys would love as it has so many of the Ivy era features they covet - it's a "sack," 2/3 button lapel roll (I know, crazy arcane stuff), patch pockets, 2 buttons on the cuff and a tweed that could stop a bullet. That and some of my old Bean Boots (like yours that you pictured in a later post) are some of my oldest clothes and would sell in a second to the vintage guys.

As you noted, it makes you feel old to realize some things in your closet have become sought after collectables by young guys. I absolutely remember the day I bought the sport coat as shopping in Brooks Brothers was completely new to me (didn't grow up doing that) and it felt weird, good, right, wrong, fun, stupid, enjoyable, wasteful (it's not only Catholics who have guilt - my work-ethic, agnostic, but protestant-inspired upbringing has taken a little bit of the joy out of every purchase I've ever made in my life).

Have you had Bean "resole" your boots - I have a few that have, over the past few decades, made several trips up to Maine for "refurbishing?"

 

[green papaya]

you know your getting old when your stuff starts to fall apart, stuff in the garage is old and rusty from years of storage, the roof on your house needs repair / house needs to be repainted

teeth start breaking from wear & tear, old fillings need repairs

your health insurance rates go way up

 

[2jakes]

you know your getting old when your stuff starts to fall apart, stuff in the garage is old and rusty from years of storage, the roof on your house needs repair / house needs to be repainted

teeth start breaking from wear & tear, old fillings need repairs

your health insurance rates go way up

At that point, I’m not getting there...
I have arrived!

 

[Fading Fast]

...teeth start breaking from wear & tear, old fillings need repairs...

I have had three cavities in my life - all before the age of 15. About 15 or so years ago (when I was in my late 30s), the dentist replaced the silver fillings with some sort of composite as the silver ones were breaking down.

Well, one of the composites is now breaking down as well and he says we should replace it. (And I'm sure the other two will go shortly as well as they were all replaced about the same time.)

Really? That means this will be the third filling I've had for the same cavity - that says you're old.

 

[shazzabanazza]

In a variation on the theme, try to think about how old you thought a 32 year old was when you were 9. Being honest, I loved my grandmother who passed away at about 78 (no birth certificate was found so it's an estimate), but you could have told me she was 130 and I'd have believed it when i was 6.

The "don't trust anyone over 30" thing was, in part, because when you are young, anyone over 30 might as well be 100 as they are all just in one big pile of "old."

Now that I'm 52, I see a lot more nuance to the age thing than I did at 10 .

Yes, I would have to agree, when I was 9 years old 30 was ancient LOL!

 

[HudsonHawk]

At age 49, and I've never had a cavity. My teeth are the one part of me that doesn't seem to be getting worse.

So...never had a filling, never seen snow. That's an odd combination.