mutton dressed as lamb
By Elizabeth
@Poppylicious (11133)
October 17, 2015 4:17am CST
I woke up thinking of old people today. Well, technically that isn't true. I was thinking of Tattoo Two which lives in a permanent state of thereness on my upper right arm. So, this leads to the elderly, obviously.
Once upon a time I was looking forward with enthusiasm to growing old. I wanted to be the crazy cat lady with the messy grey hair, an orange tea-cosy on my head, wearing a thick winter coat all year round {buttons undone in the summer}. I'd sit at the bus stop in my slippers and talk to strangers about the weather and how young people are so much more ignorant than in the old days. I might even talk to myself. I wanted to not care about dying my hair or wearing the latest fashion styles, my wardrobe full of clothes which were in fashion twenty years previously and will one day be on sale in fashionably quirky vintage shops.
I suppose I was looking forward to simply not caring. We sometimes put so much time and effort into being who society expects us to be, yet when I was young the elderly seemed so free of the constraints imposed by society. I wanted that.
I still want that.
However, the elderly of the contemporary age are young at heart. They're sassy, modern, adventurous. Little old ladies don't sit at home knitting all day in their rocking chairs anymore; they're all out skydiving or running marathons. They're wrinkle-free, classy and have evolved into folk who don't wear winter coats all year round {buttons undone in the summer}.
Only the crazy among them now wear tea-cosies on their head.
It appears I have a choice. I can conform to society's standards and be just an older version of the ordinary me, or I can quite literally be the crazy cat lady who sticks two fingers up at the world and says, "No, I shan't, and you can't make me!"
It's a terrible dilemma.
And Tattoo Two? I am wondering if I need to add some pretty colourful little flowers to it, to jazz it up as it's rather stark and is boring me now.
Maybe one day all the young folk will look at all the old folk and think us crazy for having tattoos. Our tattoos will be the orange tea-cosies for a future generation.
5 people like this
6 responses
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
17 Oct 15
Ha ha, I know! But old age can be a good excuse. Right now my only excuse would be madness.
@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
17 Oct 15
time and tastes change for sure. I am nearer to being the od man now than I was when seeing my grand-parents. I still want to grow old disgracefully - in fact just living long enough to be old appeals by middle aged.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160696)
• United States
12 Mar 16
We need to be free enough to throw color everywhere. If your tattoo is lonely give it some flowers.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
17 Oct 15
It's not as easy to be eccentric in world full of crazy people. I know that when I was young, there was a line. You couldn't see it, or put your finger on it but it was there. And once someone had crossed it, they were old. They didn't have to wear lipstick and fashionable shoes. Once over the line, there was a new standard that wasn't so high. Sometimes I think I have reached the point at which you don't have to care anymore, but unless you wear a tea cosy on your head, you will become invisible.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
17 Oct 15
Me too ... I shall start knitting my tea-cosy now so I'm prepared.
@MyishaJoe (34)
• Philippines
12 Aug 17
sometimes we wanted to fast forward our life but the reality is we need to wait for our timetable, we shouldn't be rushing things because you might realize that you're missing a piece of that life when you're always thinking of what's ahead of you
1 person likes this