Gransnet?

Gosh, faye, that really surprises me! I don't think jess and absent are anything like each other – well, certainly not enough to be confused; they are both intelligent and write clearly.

...........(mumbles)..........66 isn't old.........

You wait another few years.........

ella, please don't mind my use of the word freak. It was used playfully, honestly .

That is not the case at all absent I am not suggesting people stop growing mentally at a certain age. Of course they grow mentally, how awful to be stuck at a certain age, that would mean brain damage, surely. Sometimes I think you don't read people's comments. How many times must I say it's a feeling that a person becomes aware of being an adult with responsibilities at a certain age. Not that they still don't grow mentally.

Not good at jokes absent I am not surprised. Call it a hunch, call it a good memory, but yes I have wondered if you and Jess are the same person.

Bags I didn't say there was anything wrong with being an old woman.

I am one.

I just don't feel like one.

I am proud.

I am not a freak.

And the advantage of my take on silver surfer and being an old person is that all the words silver surfer mean are that I'm old enough to have silvering hair (that doesn't mean a lot) and I'm using the Web. What's the big deal? I had silver hairs when I was thirty. I have more now.

Similarly, old person only means I'm older than many others, especially ones who would usually be called young.

In short, I'm not offendable because none of that is anything to be offended about, nor to be insulting about. End of problem.

Faye JessM and I are two separate people. Why would you think otherwise – or was that a joke? I'm not good at jokes.

I find it strange and infinitely depressing that you seem to be suggesting that one just stops growing mentally at a certain age. Surely the person one is at 40 is different from the person at 17 and the person at 50 or 60. What is there to look forward to?

Sometimes I feel very similar to how I felt when I was seventeen. (See my Merlin thread). But that doesn't mean to say I'm "stuck there".

You still don't understand absent/Jess it's not about trying to stay young. It's about feeling you are the person you are and became aware of it around a certain age. As I said it's a feeling.

Define "old woman". As in "I don't feel like an old woman" or similar sentences. What's wrong with feeling like an old woman if you are one according to the number of years you've lived?

I don't think we'll ever get beyond the silly slights about old womanishness if people can't be proud of being old.

For me that's what it's about. If someone calls me an old woman in a demeaning way, I'll challenge them.

Bit like being proud to be black, or gay, or an atheist, or a feminist....

Be proud to be a mature woman, an old woman, if you are.

THEN attitudes will change.

Movedalot I have a fondness for the song that starts "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year…" as it was.

However, it would be absurd and delusional to feel that age in my mind now. There's a huge difference between remembering a good stage in your life and getting stuck there.

Yes. There was a definite point in my life when I grew up. Because I had to.

It's not like that at all Jess/absent (are you sure ou are not the same person.) I don't feel any different from when I was aged seventeen. I feel different from when I was sixteen though, probably because I didn't have responsibilities then. It is hard to explain as it is a feeling. I guess if you don't have that sentiment, you may not understand.

Right o then.

The good option, jingl

Yes you can glamma. Good one.

Humph! Not sure what that means Madam! (*Ana*)

I'm with Ella. There are all sorts of reasons why one might have felt good at an earlier stage in life and imo it is wrong to assume you know what they are for someone else.

Can't I feel like a grown up young woman ?

Don't worry, jingl. You don't post like one...

I feel like an old woman.

I'm sorry but I think you're all reading far to much into this "I feel younger in my head" thing.

I certainly don't feel insecure or lacking in confidence, I just don't feel like an old woman.
I feel quite "grown up" too.

I am really glad I am as I am today (creaking joints and bits missing apart!) when I think back, I sometimes do not like the person I remember, or I feel sorry for her. That was then, this is now.

jess what happened to "wearing purple"?

I'm with the mob on the queasyness of silver surfer. Give me a break! Slimy.

Also on the "I'm still 21 inside" brigade. My take on this is that they feel like they have never properly grown up - still feel insecure and lacking in confidence. I feel sad for people who are like that.
I certainly feel like a very different person inside. Thank goodness.