Day 228 -- What age are you?

I watched a movie today that made me laugh and think more about the aging process. Quartet is an amazing movie about a retirement home for classical artists -- opera singers, symphony musicians and conductors. I loved the music from recordings and from the characters in the movie. The story encompasses concepts of being the same person but in an older body and that love and sex continue despite being older. When the credits began rolling, I was surprised to see that many of the actors were retired from the opera, symphony or theatre. Photos of them now and before retirement were included along with a couple lines of where they played and when. This made me smile even more. It seemed to fit the main theme of aging adults not being useless but still possessing the gifts they'd had as younger adults -- and using those gifts -- in this case in an annual fund raising gala for the retirement home as well as acting in this movie..

Like most of us, I do think of aging on occasion, but generally tend to think of myself as me. I have to pause to think of my age when asked -- I just don't tend to think about the number because it is just that, a number. To me, age is a state of mind and getting old is more the way we approach the world than our actual age. If aging gracefully means having to act in a way that societal prejudices dictate for older adults, count me out. When instructing a course on aging last winter, I noted with the class that each of us was an aging adult. There were shocked looks on a couple faces when they realized what the alternative involved. The course content was fun to deliver and I am now thinking of ways to present some of the concepts in the next iteration. This movie may be one way to help show that we are who we are regardless of the number of years we've been here.

I used many videos in the course. today I will share one with you that I used in one of the first classes. The song and singers fit perfectly with my musings today. Enjoy!

My Generation -- The Zimmers

(Note:  In the UK walkers are called zimmer frames)