Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wait Until You're my Age

Thanks for all the great comments to my last post. I really thought most people would think my idea for a biggest liar show was too weird, especially given that I didn't do a very good job of explaining th idea. And no, I have no real plans to pursue the idea. was simply spouting off. for one I'd have no clue how to go about such a thing and for another all my free time is geared towards developing a writing career.


Matter of fact, as I write this post I am sitting in a coffee shop waiting on two fellow writers to show up so we can pick apart each others work and talk about the craft of fiction. I will be reading the first bit of Plundered Booty for them and I am eager to get their thoughts. I think this a project that people will either love and buy into or absolutely hate. Lets hope I can find an agent and eventually an editor that falls into the former.


And yes, for those who asked, that Elvis line in my last post came right out of my thick noggin and I actually used a very similar line in my second novel.


Here's a random thought I had this week.


Wait until you're my age.


There are no crueler words in the English language than those. Here's why ...


First off, you never believe them at teh time they are spoken. you're young dumb and absolutely certain you'll never fall into the trap of using your age as an excuse. Twenty, thirty, or forty. you'll still be able to stay out all night drinking Jagar Meister and still make it to work the next morning. You'll still be able to play tackle football and walk without a limp the day after. You'll still care more about whose going to win next weeks playoff than next weeks presidential primary. Least that is what you tell yourself.


But years later the truth hits you harder than a NFL linebacker.


Then you start to think about all the other times people have told you ...

Wait Until you're my age ...

and you realize ... Damn, They're probably right about everything else as well.


Now you've got a whole new list of stuff to worry about. You kids becoming teenagers and driving, getting up to pee every other hour at night, the possibility of little blue pills somewhere in your future, joint pain, you're wife hitting menopause. aching knees every morning, social security woes, regrets that the nightly news doesn't some on at eight so you can be in bed at night.


I'm thirty five. Not old by any stretch, but old enough to reevaluate things. Old enough to realize you can't fight off old age by plucking the occasional stray gray hair from your goatee. Old enough to know better ... but still young enough to do it anyway.





25 comments:

JM said...

I hear people constantly saying things like "getting old is difficult". I'm hoping I never have to say that to anyone.

Monnik said...

Ain't that the truth, Travis...

Last night I was in an argument with my 14 year old daughter and she yelled, 'I just don't understand why you have to have a rule about (the thing we were fighting about) anyway!"

I told her she would when she was older. Yep, what a copout. But it's so true.

Melissa Amateis said...

As I creep toward the age of 33, I am beginning to realize just how much I DIDN'T know in my twenties. Things that used to roll off my back now irritate me. Loud cars make my ears crawl where in my youth I loved the excitement of a "fast" car. Crowds and areas where there is a lot of people congestion put me in a foul mood where before it never bothered me at all.

It's so interesting to hear my teenaged-stepson (14) talk about life and how he's going to play for the NFL as a quarterback, have this huge mansion and 40 cars, blah blah blah, and I just smile to myself and think, "Just wait..." ;-)

Shauna said...

LOL! Thanks for that. Now all the scary little tales are creeping in. And I'm looking at my mother and thinkin' "Is that really going to be me?!"

Charles Gramlich said...

Try 49 my friend. 49 and slipping fast.

alex keto said...

"Damn, They're probably right about everything else as well."

Hmmmm, Travis, not so fast. Applies sometimes but not all because young fools just grow up to be old fools. They don't grow up to be Albert Einstein.

And there is no fool like an old fool.

Take it from a fool that's got a few years on you.

Mr. Shife said...

I can relate. I am just worried that my kids are going to be like me when I was a kid, and holy cannoli is that going to be brutal. And yes I am plucking the gray hairs as well. It just makes me feel better.

Anonymous said...

"young enough to do it anyway!" i'm 35 also, and i hope i can hang onto that end of the "old enough to know better" bargain for the rest of my life. old age scares the bejeezus out of me.

and your writing group sounds grand!

Lana Gramlich said...

I'm 40, so wait until you're MY age. ;)

cher said...

i will be in the corner of the coffee shop writing everything you say down like a mad woman, and then plagerizing the shit out of it. and then i will publish it under the manliest name i can think of;)

Mom In Scrubs said...

35 next month, I'm with ya.

But I'm plucking my Husband's gray hairs....I'm blonde! There's gotta be some perks.

Bubblewench said...

I had this exact converstion with a friend of mine the other day, but our tag line was "Remember when everyone told you not to be in a rush to grow up, but you were anyway? What the hell were we thinking?"

Good one. Hope your writing meeting went well.

Tena Russ said...

The quote of the day on my blog:

It is not how old you are, but how you are old.

Jules Renard, writer
(1864-1910)

Aaron said...

I'm guilty of using that line in '07. I think that's a bad sign, especially given my relative youth.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

I realize that I am simultaenously smarter and dumber than I was when I was younger. Go figure!

And see how dumb I am - I started another Scrabulous game between us by accident. So now you get to play 2 with me at the same time. That's a challenge!!!

Holly Kennedy said...

Hope your coffee shop reading/meeting was a good one.
As for the age thing... I can't believe how much we change physically between 20-30, and then 30 to 40. Hate the idea of having to take little blue pills!!

Jess said...

I think it's wonderful that you created an opportunity to talk with other writers and go over your work!

And I agree with the sentiment.

Sam said...

Wait till your my age reminds me of that old adage "Experience is the comb life gives you after you lose your hair."
Depressing, really.
:-)

Josephine Damian said...

What I like about getting older (technically old) is what falls away - and by that I mean all the things you used to spend (waste) time on that, as you age, you realize never really mattered - you distil life down to only those few things that are important.

Unknown said...

I've got you by a few years, and things don't seem so bad at all...if I could only remember where I put those things.

By the way, I've selected you as one of those who should tell us "What do I expect from my blog?"

I'm curious.

Erica Orloff said...

Hi Travis:
My dad is 73, blind, and lives with me part of the year (soon to be MOST of the year). I take care of him. Age is staring me in the face. And it ain't pretty.

All I can say is the ONE thing my dad teaches me . . . is take care of yourself. Walk every day. Stay limber. Eat right. Still have fun . . . but do yoga or some form of exercise. Laugh every day. Keep the mind active. He didn't do any of that and he's a mess. Now he's MY mess. And I adore him, but he's a f/t job.

E

Marla said...

I am 34 and still hate hearing those words. We have some friends who are like all but four years older than us. They are always saying, "Back in our day.." or "When we were kids..." Or as you write here,"Wait till your our age...' I am like, 'Wre you kidding me? What the hell?" As if we are from totally different age groups or planets. I always yell at them for it. I think the thing that makes me the most annoyed is they talk like they are smarter and know more than us because they are four years older. It is just weird.

Danette Haworth said...

Grecian Formula.

Richard said...

Wait until you're my age is the same as tomorrow - it never happens. You will never be that person's age

WordVixen said...

I always intended to write down all of my wise thoughts before having children. That way, when I have kids and I revert to "mommy mode", I have the list to remind me.