siriosa 2000

what is old?
on a psychic level, i've always assumed i was born old. one theory is that when my grandmother died, she rose up out of her body and looked down at my mother, who was 17 and pregnant, and thought to herself "i can't just leave her," and dove into the nearest available body. mine. i shared with her for decades (i'm sure i gave her a very interesting ride) until a few years ago it occurred to me that she needed to be evicted.

one trope i've found amusing is: just as "crazy cat lady" is anybody with two more cats than i've got, "old" is anybody 15 years older than i am.

suzette haden elgin,* whose ozark series of YA SF novels i liked a lot, and whose linguist-themed feminist novels (beginning with native tongue) i admired extravagantly, has been discussing "eldering" on her livejournal.

she quoted george burns on the topic: "if you wake up in the morning when you're old and nothing hurts, you know you've died."

tfac and bhe and i went to the monterey aquarium last summer, to admire the otters. they seem to be having such a fine time in their bodies, and it occurred to me that i'd have more fun in mine if i were more limber. i started doing a sun salute in the morning. then one in the morning and one in the evening. i'm up to eight a day now.

and i wake up in the morning and nothing hurts. so i must not be old. good to have a rubric.

*i can also heartily recommend elgin's series beginning with the gentle art of verbal self defense. very useful.