Am I that old?

Have you ever had one of those moments when you suddenly realize you are, in fact, a real, mature (read: almost old) adult human being? Life experiences, age and general common-sense knowledge of things going on around me sometimes trigger these thoughts.

One of these things is that now, as I slowly approach the age of 40 (in a mere 14 months), I realize that there are professionals in this world that are younger than me and I don’t really know how to process that information.

I guess it should be expected that at some point in your life that you may encounter a physician that is younger than yourself, but somehow when I actually encountered this at my kids’ pediatrician’s office it is a bit unnerving. I worry I may be being a bit ageist, but can someone who is noticeably younger than me really have the medical knowledge to take care of my offspring? The answer is of course they are able, but it still somehow feels just a bit off.

Aside from noticing that the successful people around me are trending younger, I also see that I have certain skills that that younger generation still might find me useful for. So, this old dude might have some value to the community – I’m not over the hill and a burden to society, at least, not yet.

Some of these things include, but are not limited to, knowing how to record to a VHS or cassette tape, knowing how to plug in and use a landline telephone (and knowing how to use a rotary dial) and knowing how to look up an article in a printed encyclopedia. I also can write in and read cursive, I write checks (once in a while), I have been known to carry cash. And I can make change in my head. Wait a minute — maybe I am old?!

When did that happen? Shoot! My memory is already failing me.

However, there is at least one redeeming factor of my age. I fall into the ‘micro-generation’ classification of xennials that has characteristics and knowhow of Generation X and the Millennials. So, while I might still send a check in the mail to pay a bill, I also had the benefit of growing up alongside popular technology that runs mainstream society today.

I was in the group of college classmates that moved from floppy discs to flash drives, from printed academic journals to online databases. Technology made for a more immersive learning experience. But still while some of my classmates had Palm Pilots, some did not yet have cell phones and the dorms still had direct phone lines.

Now in the real world, at my desk a newspaper publisher (which is a classic old-guy job), there are a number of my ‘skills’ that are useful here. For instance, knowing how to re-ink a self-inking stamp or how to align a hole-punch and even how to change a fluorescent tube have all proven valuable. I guess this is not archaic information just yet, but with things being more paperless and LEDs replacing other styles of lighting, I can make myself appear more valuable to the company (and my younger coworkers) simply by knowing some of the old-school basics of how an office runs.

So, it seems more and more my personality may be shifting from eager and young to a bit of a cynical old dude, but hopefully I can manage to continue to age like a fine wine and not a bottle of beer left in the sun.