OMG I Remember…
When I was a
wee lad, I always hated it when some old friend or relative that I had not seen
in years would say,
“Is this
Jody? (it was Joe by then, but I let it slide
with old folks) It
can’t be, I remember you when you were no higher than my knee!”
I would
think to myself,
“What you’re
surprised that I’m bigger at 13 than I was at 2? What did you expect?”
One time I
met an old favorite Aunt of my Mom’s who I did not remember.
“Oh, this
can’t be Jody; I remember when (holding
her hand to her waist) you
were only this tall.”
I could not
resist responding to this under 5 foot lady,
“That’s
funny, I remember when (holding my hand way
above my head) you
were this big!”
Why do old
people do this? Why are we shocked that
people change?
I have often
stopped myself from commenting on Facebook to old friends of my children,
“OMG
Frankie, you’re a doctor? I remember
when you were a snot nosed kid!”
Or
“Danny,
you’re a cop? No way, I remember when you egg bombed my house.”
It’s easy to
stop such stupid comments on Facebook, but in person it is difficult to bite your tongue and not advise
someone that they used to be different thirty years ago.
Apparently
it is natural to remember a person from the last time you saw them and be
surprised that they have changed when you meet years later.
The funny
thing is that appearance changes, but your impression of a person does not.
If Frankie
was a little prick when he was ten, you still think of him as a little prick 30
years later when he is now a respected doctor.
I see
pictures of women I knew in High School who have aged and put on a few
pounds. If I had not known them back
when they were little hotties in high school I would not give them a second
glance, now I think,
“OMG,
that’s Shelly Newman? She used to be so cute”
…and yet the
older version still makes my heart do a double thump.
Perhaps this
phenomenon is one of the benefits of aging.
Yeah, I just hate it when talking to some really old fart in the grocery store and then realizing that I'd gone to high school with him. How did he get so old when I am obviously still so young?
ReplyDeleteMake friends with archaeologists. The older you get the more interested they are in you.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
hahaha
ReplyDeletethat was rude of you to responding that lady lol
yes i been experiencing such stuff when i went back to village and met often someone whom i did not see for years i mean people like uncle and aunties so they would sy oh you are so big i remember when you were so thin and weird blah blah blah
after marriage when i had kids my in laws would often see my kids and say oh how weak your boy is ,may be you keep him under strict environment or much into studies
yes people do this without realizing how it goes for other
for uncle and aunties i would say may be they express their part of love and pleasure to share the memories they have about you
I'm with Lisa. It's soul crushing to think someone looks old and then realize you're the same age.
ReplyDeleteI don't consider myself "old" or "aging" until I see my niece's children getting older and realize if they are getting older, so am I. It just amazes me how fast the time went.
ReplyDeletebetty
Joe it can work in the opposite way too--when I travel home to visit my sister & my 15 year old niece (who is a regular beansprout), she likes to compare our "newest heights". I'm stuck at 5'7", she's now at 5'9" (takes after her tall dad's side of the family). She likes to say "Aw Uncle Doug, remember when I was such-and-such tall and you were taller than me? Now..." Yes Sophia, I get it--I get more & more shorter every year :)
ReplyDeleteI'll have you know I'm that old fart and I don't care one bit. I've earned the right to say stupid things and I enjoy it ever so much.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day, Joe. 😎
I never minded them thinking I had grown and was a bit proud of the fact but when they loudly proclaimed to everyone they use to change my diapers, that was cringe worthy.
ReplyDeleteI say something different, like recently at my grandson's wedding, I saw my ex-husband's 5th child, now 23 years old and said, Oh my goodness, I haven't seen you since you were 4! I'm surprised I recognised her at all, there's no family resemblance.
ReplyDeleteThis is also why parents don't notice the changes in the children they see every day while the grandparents who see them twice a year are always surprised.
ReplyDeleteI have a nasty memory of one of my high school classmates and 60+ years later I still think of him as a mean little shit.
ReplyDeleteI only hated it when someone would tell me, "You're growing like a weed!" Because then my sister would call me WEED for week or two.
ReplyDelete