ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Being Grandpa....or A.K.A. You're Getting Old, Rob

Updated on March 15, 2012

I guess this is what mid-life crisis is all about, realizing you are getting old, and am, as my five-year old granddaughter put it to me last year on our fishing outing, “old and going to die soon”.

Well, I hope 47 is not that old - since I am already here - but people begin knocking off at this age from all sorts of things. I remember when I was 17 years old, and never thought I could live to be this old, this decrepit or whatever. Now I am on the doorstep of all that and finding it is everything I didn’t want after all. I used to make fun of my mom for becoming “antique” when she turned fifty, I am not far off myself now.

The first indication came when I was about 40 and the AARP – American Association of Retired People – began chasing me down for membership. Thinking they had confused me with my father, I laughed it off. They even tracked me down at work to send messages. Seven years later, they have not gone away and their propaganda gets more acceptable as I creep closer to their acknowledgment of the end of my life.

It is great to be a grandfather this young, to be able to still run and play with energy, but how long is it going to last? Riding the little rubber bouncing horse of my granddaughters makes my knees stiff, my hands ache after a lot of typing or writing, my wrist is sore after “flying” the girls around the house. My wife says she seems to wake up with a new ache or pain every day. It does seem that way.

In fact I married a bellwether of sorts, since my wife is 13 months my elder, I figure she gives me glimpse of what is coming for me.

In order to prove that age wasn’t getting the best of me, I started playing floor hockey with those 20 something aged kids on my dart partner’s sons’ team. Other than not being able to breathe the first couple of weeks, I was doing okay. Yeah I lost a step, okay several steps, but compensated with smart play and a few extra hits to slow the kids down.
Of course, my bones aren’t what they used to be either it seems, so those hits affected me more the next day than those kids.

I don’t think science will advance faster than my age to keep me living and going as strong as the twenty years olds’, but will hopefully help to keep me around longer.

I guess being grandpa was the biggest realization of my age. I love it, but have found it is now my turn. It is my turn, to be a special someone that can foster and nourish the little someone’s and be like my own grandfather. It was my grandfather that sparked my interest in science, weather, fishing, astronomy and more. I strive to pass on those special moments with my own grandchildren now.

My grandfather was older than I am now, he was the more traditional 60’s aged grandpa, and I can’t recall him ever running around, or that I cared. He was always there to toss a ball with me, pitch to me, hitting balls to me, flying kites and more. I don’t know if he cared either, that he couldn’t do those things. It was more the time he spent with me and the knowledge and fun he imparted on me that has lasted a lifetime.

It has actually lasted more than a lifetime, generations to be exact. I strive to be as good as or better than the high example set by my grandfather, which will hopefully be an influence on my grandchildren for the rest of their lives too. I am sure he is proud that his influence carries on.

Truthfully I have fared pretty well, better than I would have expected, and better than most people my age. I am healthy, good weight, low cholesterol, take no meds except for the allergy pills and can still get out and run with the kids.

It has just come down to acceptance, realizing who I really am – or actually how old I am. Maybe I am not ready to do that just yet, some kids grow up slow. I want to grow old slow.


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)