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When does 'Growing Up' evolve into ''Getting Old'?

Is there a single 'stage of life' or occasion/event that marks the transition?
SW-User
I can't say for sure that there is one single event for everyone that makes them deal with their own mortality,but for me it was the day I held my loving mother-in-law's hand (my Husband was holding her other hand), and we watched her leave this world.It was the moment I actually saw someone die and realized that I was closer to death than I was to birth. I was 48 when that happened and I felt old. If I would have witnessed death before this age, at an age when I was closer to birth than to death, I don't think it would have had the same effect.
Robert · 70-79, M
@SW-User Did feeling further from birth change you Milady?
SW-User
@Robert Yes, it did change me. I value my life more now than I did before. I don't take for granted that I will live forever. When I was young the idea of death, the reality of it, never crossed my mind ( outside of 2 suicide attempts).I guess I just thought I would live forever, but when I saw someone die it brought it all home. Life is fleeting.
Robert · 70-79, M
@SW-User And the older we get the more fleeting it is!
I hold up this poem as the challenge we must all face at a time unique to us:

Robert Frost, The Oven Bird

There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.

The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.
No. I think one day one wakes up and realizes one is old. I give that age to be 80. I grow old more slowly than others. I am gifted.
antonioio · 70-79, M
@PoetryNEmotion I'm 💯 😊
@antonioio I don't believe you.
antonioio · 70-79, M
@PoetryNEmotion not to worry
I only tell the unbelievables 😌
Carla1951 · 70-79, F
When you realize that this is YOUR choice. It doesn't have to be a struggle. Nobody WANTS to get old. The tipping point is when we can open our arms and accept it. I don't want to look OLD.
I color my hair to block the grey. I walk and walk the pounds away. I present myself to the world in hope of seeking acceptance. We have to accept the choices and the changes. AND if we're lucky, we find a partner to share it with.
My life has been good. I can take or leave it. And for now I feel I have made the correct choices.
It's not that I don't like who I am, nor who I've become. Yet I continue to strive to ensure it will become better.
And, when my mother died, my father already gone for years. I realized that now [b][i]I was expected to be a grownup.[/i][/b]
Robert · 70-79, M
@Mamapolo2016 I'm nearly at that stage. Scary
antonioio · 70-79, M
Grown up is when you realise that your not the only one that matters and some people will never realise that
Giana · 70-79, F
Growing up is about attitude. Growing old is about time.
Robert · 70-79, M
@Giana Damn, a serious answer. Thank you G. I have the first and never enough of the second.
When I realized I no longer cared if shoes were sexy, only if they were safe.
Picklebobble2 · 56-60, M
I flatly refuse to do either ! 😜
Robert · 70-79, M
@Picklebobble2 Good for you chum. Have fun!🤡
Socialclutz · 36-40, M
I think after 30 you're old 🤔
Robert · 70-79, M
@Socialclutz Aw shucks, I was hoping otherwise!😭

 
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