This photo showed up in my email. I forwarded it ten friends. Maybe you've seen it.
The guys in the photo are the TV actors who played Beaver Cleaver, his older brother Wally (right) and devious Eddy Haskell (left), Wally's buddy who was total wise ass until he appeared in front of Ward and June Cleaver -- Mom and Dad to the Beav and Wally -- when he was so polite he'd make a fellow kid puke, but make a parent think "Oh, he's such a nice boy."
I watched Leave It To Beaver about every week when I was kid. If you are in your 50s or 60s, then maybe you did, too.
And now, here comes this picture, and all of a sudden my childhood chums look like Hell. So, the question I must ask myself is "Do I look that bad, too?"
Of course not. No way!
But maybe I'm not the one to judge: Every day of my life while I brush my teeth I see myself in the mirror. So I get used to me, the old guy compared to me, the young guy.
I think if humans were only allowed to look in a mirror once every ten years -- say on their 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th birthdays -- they would probably commit suicide or beg for anti-depressants.
Anyway, that's my thought for the day. To be honest, I wish I had never seen this picture. It makes me face reality, which is a lousy thing to face.
Hey Chuck, enjoy your stories on the RV life! However, in this post, you sound very depressed! Think for a minute about the alternative to getting old. There is only one.
ReplyDeleteI am 58, so yes I grew up watching "The Beav", plus, since my last name is Mather, I was compared to him since that show came out. No, I do not look that old, but only because I took care of myself better. Those guys probably did some hard living! They were blessed with wealth early on, and probably enjoyed a life of plenty, however, we alone must live our life, and make those decisions which affect us more and more the older we get.
This is "reality" as you called it, and it is ours to make and it is ours to interpret anyway we choose.
Attitude is everything. In the spirit of the Anniversary of Woodstock, which I feel stands for what "our generation" was all about, "peace, love and happiness", I choose to be happy, peaceful and to love life, otherwise, why are we even here?
Reality takes some getting used to, but it never goes away. I agree that if one only looked in a mirror every ten years, that would cause a lot of distress.
ReplyDeleteI guess part of age is how you look at it. I have been watching those things around my eyes go from lines to grooves to ditches, but I'm the one who gives them meanings. Depending on how I feel that day, they can be signs of old age, strong survival skills or elderhood.
I know exactly how you feel! My 64 years smacked me in the jaw reading the obit of a 5th grade pal & listed amount survivors were his 7 grandchildren. My immediate reaction was, "he's not old enough to be a grandpa!" Then I thought of my three adult grandchildren...'nuf said! Love your column.
ReplyDeleteNan
Hey guy, those actors played those parts 45 or so years ago! What are we supposed to look like in our late 50's and 60's. Grow up and quit seeing yourself as a high school kid when you look in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteMost of our lives are spent as being old, so no sense being delusional and thinking we look like our high school year book pictures.
Yes, it's a sad commentary about how we all appear to age......
ReplyDeleteWe tend to remember our Childhood friends as they were....and are shocked when we see that they in fact have grown up too. We see ourselves in the mirror every day, so it's more gradual, but I'd bet that our friends would be just a shocked.
Anyone go to a 30th High School Reunion?????
Thanks for the memories!!
Shortly after I turned 50 I was having trouble with a hip that ended up having to be replaced with titanium. I was on a car trip with my oldest son when he said, "How does it feel dad that your warranty has expired and you are having to get replacement parts?" I thought about it for a minute and then told him, "Well there are things I can no longer do that I could do when I was your age, but then there are things I can do now that I could not do then because I did not have the time or wisdom then to do them. Getting older just means discovering new things that I did not have the time to deal with or enjoy when I was younger." I am 62 now.
ReplyDeleteDon In AZ, you're a very wise man...your response to your son was great and so true. On my 50th birthday, a young 20 something said, "well lady, the sun's on your back from now on"...gee thanks! ;-) His comment wasn't nearly as cutting as my boss saying I was "circling the drain and couldn't learn it anyway" when I asked why I wasn't signed up for classes when they first brought Microsoft into the company. Funny, at 64 I feel young & refuse to go down w/o a fight! Nan
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo! I too watched these guys as a kid. As my first name is Ward, I can say without qualification that I could have retired 10 years earlier if I had a dime for every time someone said to me "You were awfully hard on the Beaver last night, Ward"! Somehow when June Cleaver uttered those words back in the 50s it seemed a bit less suggestive than it does these days. At least the censors thought so!!
ReplyDeleteHey, thats right, we are all aging, some more gracefully then other but,I attended my 40th HS reunion and if it wasn't for nametags with our HS picture on them, they would have been mostly strangers.
ReplyDeleteregarding the replaced hip, As my husband says to me"your factory warrenty has run out..but you haven't been recalled by your maker" How true.
Jean
Hey...I think they look fine, and I'm a young chick of 52! They look better than dead, and they look HAPPY....Happiness trumps alot of age!
ReplyDelete