This is circa 1977. I don't really know the exact date. I swear my mother looks the same as that today. Except now she wears her hair in two long braids laid down on top of her head. (Her hair is very long.)It looks to me like my tooth growth outpaced my head growth doesn't it?
The truth is, I still feel like that skinny tow-headed gangly pre-teen. That was a time when anything was possible and my heart soared regularly. Nowadays my head interferes with the soaring most of the time, but deep down I still feel like that kid in the picture.
My mother told me the same thing a few years ago. She said, "I still feel like a teenage girl inside." And I knew it was true as soon as she said it, but you would never know it from meeting her.
I wonder if we all have our "adult skin" on, which is really like a camouflage or a distortion of what's really going on inside. I often talk about how much I hate childish behavior from adults, but really, if we're all children deep down, it's no wonder we can't all get along in this sandbox we call Earth.
My mom is 62 and looks in her 40's due to what I believe is her young-at-heart attitude. Well, maybe good genes also, but the best advice she EVER gave me was to remember what it was like to just enjoy things completely the way we did when we were younger. You lose that and you are on the way to yelling at kids because they accidentally threw a Nerf football into your yard..
ReplyDeleteLovely photo!
ReplyDeleteOf both you and your mom.
I still feel like the girl I was at university, and I think that exercise and attitude keeps anyone young.
Jane
I try to be as honest as possible in regards to my inner child.
ReplyDeleteHe's still a little bastard, and only sometimes plays well with others.
My self-image hasn't really changed since I was in my late teens. I still think of myself as a bit of a geek, with a healthy dose of sarcasm. The only difference is that now I'm in my 30s. And because of this, nobody can brush me off as 'immature'. I'm 'maturely youthful', and not likely to grow out of it at this point.
:)
I hate it when people poop in my sand box.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great picture... a real keeper - you were a really cute kid!(The adult version isn't bad at all either)...
ReplyDeleteWe could all get along better if we acted and settled things like kids - up front, right then, not pretence or bullshit, just got it out in the open, delt with it, shoved a few people and then went back to the game...
We adults make this world as difficult as it is...
I agree with Spider!
ReplyDeleteBut I guess it depends on how old you think you are inside. I feel like I stopped growing older and learning life to young.
I feel like the kid in 4th grade while the sixed graders are on the corner smoking and making out.
Does that make sense?
Have fun!
No biking today I guess.
J
Too true.
ReplyDeleteBut, man, you were a cute kid. Where did it all go wrong?!
;)
It's funny, but as a teenager I felt like I should have been 35-- gravitas and all.
ReplyDeleteWow, were you blonde.
ReplyDelete**
I feel younger than I am (even though I'm still in my 20s) - unfortunately, I'm stuck at that awkward age where I was chubby and an outsider.
Age is meaningless unless you assign meaning to it. I consider myself to be young at heart and only really feel my "real age" when I wake up with a lower backache.
ReplyDeleteas i get older, i come to realize that the outside and the numbers matter less and less. that i am so much more than this aging grown-up. the jolting part is when i catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and wonder who that old woman is.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a line from a Jim Croce song: "...I used to like to do it, but I can't remember why..."
ReplyDeleteI'm mentally still in my twenties, but my body argues otherwise. I guess I should be happy that I still remember that I used to like to do it.
What a beautiful picture. You can tell your mom has great personality and spunk from the gleam in her eye. That explains a great deal about you!
ReplyDeleteI used to feel like I was older when I was a teenager, and feel like a teen now that I'm older. I'm clearly regressing, but I have gotten better at developing adult conflict resolution skills. It's just all the other stuff that's stayed young.
If there were no mirrors or reflections, I wonder how people would behave?
ReplyDeleteI hate those days when I am feeling 12 and the realization I am 40 hits me. There is still so much I want to do and experience; I can't believe where the time has gone.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with the other comments: cute pic of you (then and now).
Re hi Torn!
ReplyDeleteDo like me, when someone says, you WERE so cute! Tell them they tried their best after the car accident but...
Usually people stop and look horrified and act all concerned. lol
You looked good then and you look good now.
Oh my god your mom looks like Ellen Burnstyn and you look like the kid from Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and that is a good thing! Such a cool photo.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm back ;)
Yup, still feel like a kid sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute kid. And I think your teeth were proportionate to the rest of your face. :)
ReplyDeleteCute smile too.
Your mom is hot (as LBB noted in a sick perverted way ;) ). And you were and are adorable. What a great photo!
ReplyDeleteI was a confused and miserable teen so I celebrate being an adult and in control of my life, but I get what you mean about 'adult skin'.
I think we gain "skins" - adult, child, worker, lover, parent, sibling, friend, enemy, etc. - as we get older, have more experiences and become richer, more complex (and, with a little luck, wiser) people.
ReplyDeleteSome days I feel old, some days I feel young. Most of the time I don't even remember my exact age. Some of my most treasured friends are in their 60s and 70s, and I love hanging out with (some) kids. Never could figure out this whole "age-appropriate" thing.
A friend of mine once said, "You should act child-like, not childish" Basically, looking at the world with all the wonder and playfulness of a child.
ReplyDeleteI too think way too much and let that 'adult skin' you talk about take over. I try to act more child-like!
I can relate. Although I am 42, I feel like I'm much younger. And since I look younger, it always surprises me when I discover someone whom I thought was older than me is actually younger than me. My personality still thinks I'm 25. :-)
ReplyDeleteMark
Time goes by so fast. It seems to me the older I get the faster time flies. My mom is 74 years young. I can remember when she was younger than I am now, scary. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I am 18, until I sit too long with my legs curled up under me and then I stand up. Then, I feel 80.
ReplyDeleteNice pic, you both look really happy in it!
I'm 23-24. Those were the best years - the years I felt most like "me".
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely picture, you both look so relaxed and happy. What a little blondie you were. Getting older is a funny thing, I don't think even the very old feel that way in their hearts, it's just the damn body that reminds them. I still feel young, but not, it's strange and good all at the same time. Devo
ReplyDeleteYou were a totally cute little guy. Cute big guy now. I love your smile.
ReplyDeleteI hope you let the little guy out from time to time. He looks like a lot of fun.
I don't want to go back to that at all. I had so many incorrect ideas about the world and myself. I wish we could all know what it is like to be 80 and then be young, and then I think the world might have a chance at progressing.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo- your mum looks cool and cuddly :>)
ReplyDeleteThat's a great pic. Your mom's beautiful. I think that the secret of life is to know that behind closed doors, we never grow up. I remember it being somewhat of a shock during my teenage years when I realized that adults weren't really "adults" at all.
ReplyDeleteI think we're always that little kid deep down.
ReplyDeleteYour moms a hot little number.
ReplyDelete