<p>Like most people on this bb, I have raised kids for over 20 years and they are starting to leave. During those 20+ years I haven’t gone to as many movies, concerts, sporting events, or the theater as I did before kids. I feel like I am now coming out of a coma and ready to claim my life back. </p>
<p>Paul Newman is 81.
Robert Redford is 69.
Willie Mays is 75.
Arnold Palmer is 77.
Paul Simon is 65.
Bill Cosby is 69.
Ann-Margret is 65.
Gwen Verdon is dead. (I didn’t know she died until recently).
Michael Douglas is 61 and his dad is still alive.
Liza Minnelli is 60.
Ann Reinking is 57. She was awesome in All That Jazz. Unbelievable legs. <a href=“http://youtube.com/watch?v=963o0wHwhEU[/url]”>http://youtube.com/watch?v=963o0wHwhEU</a></p>
<p>What happened?</p>
<p>Didn’t time freeze while we were raising kids?</p>
<p>And to make matters worse, my wife’s friends are starting to look like my grandmother, and my friends are starting look like my dad’s friends.</p>
<p>What the …?</p>
<p>And what do Ann Reinking’s legs look like today?</p>
<p>I went to a neighbors xmas party and was surprised that they had invited so many “older” people. Took me back when I realized they were all about my age. Good thing my eyesight is going…if that bathroom mirror wasn’t fuzzy and covered in steam I’d just about have a heart attack!</p>
<p>Isn’t it shocking to see that we have become the older folks? I think that looking through my college magazine, and thinking geez, that person looks old, and then realizing, oh, that person is 50, just like I am.</p>
<p>I’ve loved raising my kids too, Marite. And I still have one tween, so have a bunch of raising left to do!</p>
<p>I still have a 16 year old, but he is very independent and I can relate completely. It perfectly describes the feeling I’ve been having recently, as my oldest is about to turn 21. Very apt description!</p>
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<p>I’ve certainly been in a fog since my older S was born (almost 14 years ago!) and my younger S is only 8, so it will be a while before I come out. </p>
<p>Think of Elizabeth Edwards; I read recently that each of her 4 children was born in a different decade!</p>
<p>Marite has great comments, as usual. I really enjoyed the child-rearing years, but I don’t want to go back, and I’m glad we only have two! Youngest is a junior in HS, and I like the times when he is out with friends, and H and I are home alone. It’s amazing to me that we still enjoy one another’s company after 25+ years – I think retirement will be fun. The only thing is, what happened to my body!</p>
<p>The hardest to believe is Robert Redford being 69. </p>
<p>And when I mention any actor/actress over the age of 25 my kids’ eyes glaze over and they tune out. How can they not know who these people are? These are IMPORTANT people!!! Of course, it’s exactly how I reacted when my parents used to try to ID actors on the Late Show years ago…“Is that Joseph Cotton? I think that’s Joseph Cotton.” LOL</p>
<p>And some of our friends are now grandparents, which is really strange because g’parents used to be OLD. And they’re not. :)</p>
<p>I’d like to learn to walk on my hands so gravity can work on me in the other direction for a while!</p>
<p>Ive already shared my mystification at the Seafair Pirates showing up at a recent charity auction, I couldn’t figure out who they were, because Pirates were about 15 years older than myself!
These guys were my age!</p>
<p>I have a 16 year old too- keeps me young
I actually feel like I am staying in pretty good shape- but I would like to have my 30 year old neck- this one appears to be Diane Keatons </p>
<p>Bridget Bardot, I can’t believe what she looks like now.</p>
<p>Before I had kids, I went to so many Oscar Peterson concerts. I was going to see him this year for the first time in 15 or more years, but I couldn’t do it. I did not want to see him now and have my memories of him change. Plus, it was $100 a ticket. :)</p>
<p>I was going to mention that Joe Pass (who played with him for years and is my all-time favorite musician) died during my 20 year coma. I just happened to glance at a newspaper the day after he died and saw his name in an obituary. That was a sad day. I named my son after him. I figured nobody on this bb ever heard of him though. But since emeraldkity4 mentioned Oscar, I just had to mention Joe.</p>
<p>Are you ever shocked when somebody died because you thought they would live forever?</p>
<p>When Fred Astaire died, I was shocked. I figured that with all that dancing, his body would be in such incredible condition (plus he moved so gracefully)that he would never die. I thought his obituary was a mistake.</p>
<p>I can handle “my music” playing on the oldies stations … what I can’t handle is that it is on the verge of being kicked off the oldies stations because it is “too old”.</p>
<p>My moment of awakening actually came when my youngest son went to first grade (he’s a third grader now). I’m glad…it’ll likely be the only one I ever get, as by the time he graduates h.s. and heads off to college, some of my older ones may have children already! :eek: </p>
<p>After having grocery shopped and done errands with so many young children (my oldest turned 8 two days before number 5 was born), it was a HUMONGOUS shock to the system to regularly go to the store by myself…or schedule lunch with a friends NOT at Chuck E. Cheese! <em>lol</em> I swear that for years, I’d suddenly startle and reach around expecting to grasp a small hand in mine, only to find no one there. It took me literally a YEAR to shake the “something is missing” feeling that always unnerved me.</p>
<p>So, here’s to moments of reawakening, whenever and wherever we can find them!</p>
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