greybeard
Well-known member
I am not sure when it happened, but it is at last upon me. Old age.
Around 2009, my last aunt died out in Sweetwater Texas and I, my twin, and my 2 older sisters traveled 1/2way across Texas from East Texas out to her funeral. After the burial service, there was a meal served at the little community center in Nolan and we were sitting around with the deceased oldest son, and a thought came to me which I expressed to them. "You know what this means don't you? We are 'the old folks now'.
It was true, tho it didn't really feel like it at the time, but it has in the last few years as when my own immediate family gathers for a holiday, it's strikingly obvious that I and my 2 sisters are by far, the oldest present. Lots of folks there, but all younger than I, and I have to acknowledge that this last Thanksgiving, I didn't know who some of them were as all the nephews and nieces now have their spouses there and their kids. Some of those 'kids' have kids of their own and I can't begin to keep who belongs to who and also hits me that I have little or nothing in common with most of them. None have gone into the military, none farm, most don't have blue collar jobs, none have 'had it hard'. I'm 2-3 generations removed in most cases and they all sit around on their phones most of the time anyway, my own sons being the exception on the rare occasion they make the lengthy trip to join in. (all but 1 lives out of state). X,Z, millennials and gen alphas ......... just 3 of us old boomers.
Absent are my own parents, my uncles and aunts and many of my own cousins, all deceased and of course my twin brother.
Even today tho, it's odd. I don't 'feel' old. I still have plans to do this and that and go on about my life as I did back when I was 50 or 60 but in that family scenario, it stands out where I really am in my short tenure on this mortal coil. I do not worry on it, but I do realize that someday soon I too will be gone and not long afterwards the world will little care nor long remember I was even here.
Around 2009, my last aunt died out in Sweetwater Texas and I, my twin, and my 2 older sisters traveled 1/2way across Texas from East Texas out to her funeral. After the burial service, there was a meal served at the little community center in Nolan and we were sitting around with the deceased oldest son, and a thought came to me which I expressed to them. "You know what this means don't you? We are 'the old folks now'.
It was true, tho it didn't really feel like it at the time, but it has in the last few years as when my own immediate family gathers for a holiday, it's strikingly obvious that I and my 2 sisters are by far, the oldest present. Lots of folks there, but all younger than I, and I have to acknowledge that this last Thanksgiving, I didn't know who some of them were as all the nephews and nieces now have their spouses there and their kids. Some of those 'kids' have kids of their own and I can't begin to keep who belongs to who and also hits me that I have little or nothing in common with most of them. None have gone into the military, none farm, most don't have blue collar jobs, none have 'had it hard'. I'm 2-3 generations removed in most cases and they all sit around on their phones most of the time anyway, my own sons being the exception on the rare occasion they make the lengthy trip to join in. (all but 1 lives out of state). X,Z, millennials and gen alphas ......... just 3 of us old boomers.
Absent are my own parents, my uncles and aunts and many of my own cousins, all deceased and of course my twin brother.
Even today tho, it's odd. I don't 'feel' old. I still have plans to do this and that and go on about my life as I did back when I was 50 or 60 but in that family scenario, it stands out where I really am in my short tenure on this mortal coil. I do not worry on it, but I do realize that someday soon I too will be gone and not long afterwards the world will little care nor long remember I was even here.
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