Have you ever sent a post out into the blogosphere, absolutely convinced it was going to be Freshly Pressed? And then it wasn’t?
You’re not alone.
I’ve asked some fantastic bloggers to select the post that had them muttering,”THIS One Should Have Been Freshly Pressed.” A new blogger is featured each week to receive the coveted Freshly Pegged distinction. Participants will be awarded a genuine, simulated “Freshly Pegged” JPEG badge, suitable for posting in a place of honor on their blogs. Or not.
Be sure to read all the great Freshly Pegged offerings to date. But before you do, let’s check out…
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Katy at K8edid is a nurse, a teacher, a writer, a grandmother – she wears a lot of hats. She’s a master of the clever comment and is probably best known for her brilliant 7 Deadly Sins writing competition. I haven’t actually won any of them, but I’m not bitter. Nope. Not at all.
All this blogger goodness in one place???
She has the distinction of being the only blogging buddy I’ve met in the flesh. Last summer we discovered we would both be traveling to the great state of Michigan to visit relatives at the same time. We met in a magical place called Wendys. My family dropped me off for a little visit and went to grab a bite elsewhere; at least that’s what I told Katy. They were actually hiding nearby with long-range rifles trained on her through the restaurant window. Although I already loved Katy like a sister, I thought it best to be prepared in case she and her hubby, Sweet Cheeks, were deranged, psycho kidnappers. As it turned out, they were not.
Katy has been greatly missed around the blogosphere lately as she has been struggling with a serious medical situation. It looks like she may be out of the woods now, or at least able to see some daylight ahead. I’m thankful she’s on the mend and delighted to welcome her back.
Her Freshly Pegged offering really speaks to me – Holler! – and I’m sure you’ll also love…
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Stuck in the Middle (Age) With You
I seem to be mired in a deep rut these days. The sides are slippery and I feel like even if I could climb out of it, there is a deep sink hole waiting to swallow me up just outside this rut. So maybe I’ll stay right here. This is that crazy time “Middle Age”*** – can’t quite pull off young and not yet ready for the retirement home. Somewhere between having to worry about birth control and funeral arrangements. Here are ten truths I’ve discovered about middle age:
1. I had it good back in the day.
But I didn’t know it. I thought I was fat. Now I am all set for the next famine. I had boundless energy. Now I can barely lift the remote. I could play poker all night, work all day, and sling meals effortlessly. Now I can barely make reservations. I managed a household on top of a full time job and 2 robust and active boys. Now I manage to get from the bed to work to the couch and call it a good day.
Someone is bound to notice this hairdo.
2. Beauty is a full time job.
In my younger days, I could still turn a few heads (especially if those heads had been drinking). Getting dolled up meant enhancing my natural assets with a touch of mascara and lip gloss. Now I fill wrinkles with spackle and cover age spots with a thick layer of “age defying” shellac. Even industrial strength hair coloring cannot cover what is growing out of my head, and my chin hairs are alarming in both their length and strength. My moustache is envied by Justin Bieber. I’d give myself a pedicure if I could reach (or even see) my toes. But I don’t know why I bother because…
3. You become invisible.
Somewhere around 43 or 44 you will become invisible – no matter how beautiful (or loud, or funny) you are. Children are cute, youngsters are hip and savvy. Oldsters are entitled to respect and senior discounts. You are just there – sort of – if anyone even notices. All those things you thought you’d do if you were invisible – not happening.
I traded my roller blades for this (Photo credit: kbrookes)
4. Half the distance takes you twice as long.
I can no longer open jars by myself, my eyesight is failing faster than my vision insurance covers new lenses, and my teeth are wearing down. I have fillings older than many billionaire CEO whippersnappers and they are working loose at an alarming rate (the fillings – not the CEOs). My joints are achy and any rapid movements could land me in traction. While I don’t yet need a hover-round, I am not exactly zipping about on foot, either. I’ve traded sexy shoes for comfortable ones. I spend 2 hours a day on exercise – an hour dreading it, half an hour trying to talk myself into it (by promising myself a bowl of ice cream afterward), and 30 minutes letting the dog drag me down the sidewalk.
5. Your brain will let you down.
I can’t remember things. Except at 3:00 a.m. Then I remember the name I couldn’t recall when I saw that old acquaintance today. I remember what I meant to get at the grocery store but couldn’t remember where I left my list. I remember birthdays on the day of – too late to send a card, but if I’m lucky, not too late to call or Skype, if I could remember where my cell phone is or remember my Skype password. I remember to feed the dog when she begins gnawing on my leg. Then I remember I meant to get dog food.
6. Your life is filled with wonder.
You wonder why bad things happen to good people. You wonder how many times a heart can break. You wonder how a One Minute Manager can make 8 hours seem like a year. You wonder why liars, abusers, thieves, perverts, killers and other rat-bastards get to breathe the same air as the most innocent child. You wonder if you’ve done enough with your life. You wonder what you did to deserve the bounty you’ve been given. You wonder why monogamy seems so hard for so many. You wonder if you’ll be remembered for your wit or your chocolate chip cookies, or for walking around with your skirt tucked up in your pantyhose. You wonder why it takes 10 minutes to consume a pan of brownies but 7 hours on the treadmill to get rid of them. You wonder where in the hell you left your car keys.
7. You have enemies.
Time, insomnia, karma, and gravity.
8. You start hanging out with well-educated rich people.
Pharmacists, orthopedists, ophthalmologists and MDs.
9. Your roles change.
Your children are grown, even if they still live in the basement. You’ve imparted all the lessons you’re gonna give ‘em – they still know more than you (for a few more years, at least). Your parents are off enjoying their retirements and spending your inheritance. They’ve imparted all the lessons they’re gonna give you and they still know more than you (for a few more years, at least). You get to worry about both and can control neither.
10. This is the time of your life.
You’ve done a lot of hard work. You watch your children work to find their way in this world, and you remember the journey. You know who you are and what you are. You’ve seen enough to know what is coming down the road…if you live long enough you’ll lose family members, friends, acquaintances and co-workers to disease or accidents. You enjoy the health you have left, even as you feel it slipping away. You will never again be as young as you are today. Youth and beauty may be leaving you in the dust, but you know that experience, wisdom and treachery trump all that, anyway.
***I am middle-aged if my life expectancy is 114.
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
Love it! And love this feature of Freshly Pegged. How fun!
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It is great fun, and I’m in very, very good company over here.
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Awww…K8…so true, so true. Please take care. I hate this date with medical fate you’ve endured. Every one of these are you K8. 1-10, is your voice through and through. My thoughts and prayers for your continued recovery.
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Thanks – I am feeling much better, if still a little weak. I still need an afternoon nap every day (who doesn’t?) and am enjoying a life of leisure (sort of). Thanks for the thoughts and prayers, Lord knows I need them!
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So happy to see Katy back, too! I love that picture of you two, and I would love to see this post get Freshly Pressed, but Freshly Pegged is pretty dang sweet!
“…and 30 minutes letting the dog drag me down the sidewalk.” Oh, that line still killed me. And #8 blows my mind a little more each day. It’s like, “Hey, weren’t you the kid sticking boogers under his chair? Now you’re my oral surgeon? I don’t want those hands in my mouth!”
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Lol, good one, Jules! My dentist was a pot smoker!
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HA! You know, some of those doctors I had in the hospital didn’t even look old enough to drive!. I am glad to be back, too. I have to say that I missed my daily fix of blogs, but had to spend all my energy on healing. I hope to be making the rounds again with my usual snarkiness soon.
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Right you are K8edid. We seem to have it backwards from history. First there was Antiquity, then the Middle Ages, then the Renaissance. Where did we go wrong? I guess we can’t all be Benjamin Buttons.
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That does seem rather bass-ackwards, as my grandmother would say. There are many parts I would not want to relive, but if I could go back, I would play more and worry less.
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Nice to meet you Kate! I just turned 40 and feel like I’m sort of in limbo as far as being in the group that the corporations don’t market to anymore and what not. I have little ones to keep me young though, so that’s something. I’m glad to hear that you’re out of the woods a bit with your medical issue. I love teachers and nurses and you’re both? You must be pretty awesome!
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If you look up “awesome” in the dictionary, my picture is there, indeed. I am a professor at a nursing college, and I love it. I’m glad you have little ones to keep you young – they do have a way of helping you see things through their eyes.
I’ve seen you around the blogosphere – I’m popping over to your place now to check out your blog. Thanks for stopping by today and commenting. Isn’t Peg the hostess with the mostest?
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Very funny post. I fell off the world’s radar a few years ago and aged 20 years in the time it took my kid to turn 9. I’m good with aging until the parts start needing to be replaced. I’m definitely out of warranty!
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I think we need to invest in artificial knee and hip parts – with the aging population, or invent something baby boomers can’t live without. My warranty ran out a long time ago, and I need to get in for tune-ups more than ever.
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Love it! Pretty much the story of me, Sister! I can’t stop laughing at the picture with the orange hair. A couple of weeks ago, in an effort to save money, I decided to try to colour my own hair (I’d been get it done professional since 1998). I had about 6 inches of regrowth as I had been putting of the task. It was a disaster! I missed parts, the parts that were white sucked it right in and turned bright orange and the parts that were grey didn’t and I looked like a spotted animal. It had to be cut out and I kind of looked like that picture…until someone mercifully fixed it.
Hope you are on the mend K8edid and thanks Peg for sharing this one.
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I have pure white hair – have had for many years…but during my hair coloring days I tried about every color. Some were disasters, some were, well, ill-advised to be sure. It took me some time to get used to the premature white hair (since my late 20s) but now it is just a part of me. Thanks for stopping in.
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“I looked like a spotted animal” – ha! People pay lots of money for spotted fur. BTW, have I told you that I love your name? I always think of that adage when I see your avatar.
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Thank you. I’m glad you like it. There are people who say “what’s with the pig?”
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Miss katy! You could totally rock that orange hair, but I think the white suits you better. Thanks so much for letting me pretty-up the joint with your great words. heal…heal…heal….heal…. (that’s me sending healing thoughts your way.)
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Thanks, Peg. I visited the surgeoon today for a post-op visit and he feels I am doing great! I can even try to eat soft foods now (as opposed to a strictly liquid diet!) YAY
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Yeah! I can’t imagine not eating solid food. THat’s a heck of a tough diet plan.
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Would you believe I went 10 days with nothing to eat or drink and GAINED weight? Yep, all that fluid built up. I dropped it pretty quickly once I was up and around. It is a tough diet plan…but I just ate a few bites of pancakes – heavenly!
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So happy to hear that, Katy! Yay for soft foods! (never thought I’d say that to anyone)
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Hello K8! My blog is about swimming my way to my 50s (although I don’t like to swim) and you have described exactly how I am feeling! This ‘sandwich’ generation we are now a part of is not fun, unless we add some mayo and bacon to it! Glad you are ok! Thank you Peg for introducing us to this lovely lady! 🙂
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My pleasure! Katy is definitely a person worth knowing.
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I’ve heard the term “sandwich generation” before – kind of stuck in the middle of the 3 generation thing. I don’t care so much for swimming, either, but love to be in the pool. I got the okay to get back in the water today, and I’m happy about that. Thanks for popping in.
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Hilarious (…when certain people say you shouldn’t be wearing roller blades at your age…laugh… a little…and don’t fall down until they are out of sight)
Great post – so identify
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Don’t you love the hover-round she traded the roller=blades for? It looks like she’s packing double-edged axes on the back, so she’s still a force to be reckoned with.
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So glad you’re feeling better, Katy! And this is a great piece to have Freshly Pegged. Perfect.
My middle age started in my 20s. Now in my 50s I feel ancient. 114 — God NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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I hate the idea that I’m middle aged. Then somebody like you makes me do the math and I realize I’m WA-A-A-Y past that point. Damn.
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I hate that, too.
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I plan to be an adorable old lady for decades!
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You’re too young to be anything except just, plain adorable.
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Awwww shucks, Peg. I will try to keep that image in your head by continuing to not post pictures!
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Excellent choice for a Freshly Pegged post!
Middle-age is such a misnomer. What amazes me most about getting older is the sensation that time speeds up. I can’t get over that. I love this line: Youth and beauty may be leaving you in the dust, but you know that experience, wisdom and treachery trump all that, anyway.
Glad that you’re on the mend, Katy!
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Jeez, you’re so right. Time is like a snowball rolling down hill, getting bigger as it rolls.
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Time does seem to be flying by – speeding up every day, while my body is slowing down. Doesn’t seem right, does it?
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Number 9 is brutally true. It’s nice to have company in these strange years.
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Strange times indeed, Dave. Strange times indeed.
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And very good company, too, I might add.
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Amen sister! Nice pic by the way!
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The 3 am thing, what is that? I’m alternately brilliant and the foreteller of great doom at 3am.
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I have both incredible hindsight and brilliant foresight at 3 AM. What is that, is right.
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Me too with the doom. Some of my best (darkest) worrying takes place in the wee, small hours.
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Wonderful post
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Thanks!
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Hahaha! I think I really loved this. Of course, by the time I scrolled down to comment, I forget if I really like it or not. But at 3 AM, I will no doubt remember, and be delighted!
sigh.
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Do what I do – write your impressions on a Post-it so you don’t forget in 5 minutes. I’m more of a 3am worrier, not rememberer.
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I thought that only happened to me! I’ll get to the end of a post and have to go back to the top because I’ve forgotten the first few paragraphs said…if you’re awake at 3 AM, wave, okay?
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I sure will!!!
If I remember…..
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This was helpful since I have officially entered “middle age” although let’s be honest, since I’m female, I lost all usefulness when I hit 30–at least if I am to believe Hollywood.
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Damn! That’s harsh. True, unfortunately, but harsh.
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Harsh is right! I see these new “celebrities” and I think the same thing every time – shouldn’t you be in school?
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Ha ha! I keep thinking “I’ve got SHOES older than those kids!”
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K8 glad to hear from you! Feel better!
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Hi, Thoughtsy. Yes, I am feeling much better…getting stronger every day and looking forward to real food for the first time in a month!
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I hear you loud and clear. Somedays, I look back on my twenties and dream of the days when I could bench press a flatbread truck. Now I’d rather just lie on the bench and sleep. Something about hitting 30 rips away all your strength and vigor…*sigh*
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I couldn’t even bench press a flatbread sandwich…and sleeping is a perfectly acceptable pasttime, unless of course your employer frowns on that sort of thing (Bastards!!).
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I am also middle-aged if I live to be 114! I can so relate to these!
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Hello, Knees! We’re in good company, aren’t we? Glad you could relate.
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Katy, I laughed, I cried, I lusted after you spackle. And that invisible thing–wow–middle aged men are interesting; middle aged women are wallpaper.
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If you laughed AND cried, then my work here is done…Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Brilliant post. I just ran out of spackle. I went out to get some but instead came home with frozen waffles and spaghetti sauce.
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Once I was applying “Age Defying” makeup and my son, about ten at the time, said “Mom, you should ask for your money back…”
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Sorry to butt in but I’ve got a 9 year old and that’s just what he’d say. 🙂
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Ha ha! Out of the mouths of babes. There’s a lady I know who is very attractive, except she piles on the mascara. I don’t know what brand she uses, but it’s super clumpy and her eyes look like there are fuzzy, tarantula legs attached. The other night a little 3-year-old looked at her and said “What is wrong with your eyes? Why do they have that black stuff?” I’ve been wanting to ask that for years – can’t she see herself in the mirror?
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Haha – they do tend not to sugar coat anything…
PS I’m so tired I intially read that as ‘theres’ a lady I know who is very attractive except she has piles’. Oops!
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My memory can’t possibly get any…
wait…
what’s the word I’m looking for again?
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Um, let’s see..is it…uh….well, I’ll think of it about 3 AM.
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This is so true. I can relate to so much of it. Thanks.
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You’re welcome!
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Oh it is so good to ‘see’ you around again, Katy. Of course, this post was simply perfect and brilliant and should have been FP’d for sure. I’m turning 43 in a few months and have already hit the ‘feeling invisible’ stage. Sigh. Makes it easier for me to walk around public with my bra on the outside of my shirt, I suppose. There’s something scary yet freeing in knowing I am past the middle part of my life. I start to give less of a crap about most things.
Congrats on being Freshly Pegged and I hope you are well on your way to full recovery very soon!!
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Every time I truly think I’m invisible someone catches me saying or doing something really stupid…such is life, I guess. It has been great fun being Freshly Pegged – she is quite the hostess. Say, can you pass those Cheese Doodles over this way – this my first day for solid food. Cheese Doodles count as a dairy, right?
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Dairy AND fruit because they’re orange. I’m so glad the doctor is giving you the go-ahead to get back in life. Take it easy, Katy dear.
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This is an absolutely perfect choice for Freshly Pegged, perfect. I am middled-aged at almost 56, I am coming to peace with this. Nothing works properly, I am fine with this also. The one thing I have figured out? I can now pull out – snark, sarcasm, snit and snide; these all go very well with high end of middle age. No one expects me to be politically correct or suck up any longer. When they do look at me cross ways, I just say, “Hey, I am getting old what do you want from me?”
Katy, I am so glad you are on the mend and at home. Do take care of yourself. Don’t push, rest. Take as many naps as necessary. Congrats on Freshly Pegged.
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I am at peace with my age – and all the circumstances that go with it. There is a certain attitude that seems to come with age, I no longer care whether people like me (I hope that they do, but know that not everyone will). People’s opinions of me matter little – I like the me I’ve been working on, and will continue to work on.
I am napping quite frequently, in fact, I can feel my morning nap coming soon.
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What a great philosophy, Katy. I wish I could adopt it. I care too much and keep score too much – big waste of energy, I know. Go get that nap!
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Great post, Katy! I can relate to your top 10 list of the joys of “middle age”, wherever middle is. I’m not far from you in age. Glad you are on the mend from your recent health scare. Take care and enjoy the holiday weekend!
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