The Oldest You've Ever Been

Today you are the oldest you've ever been. You've never been this old before. You've never had all the experiences and insights that you have right at this very moment. When something gets thrown at you, you have a certain storehouse of wisdom, determination and skill to deal with it. Or even to enjoy it. Each day brings you new challenges and new opportunities. Some of them you know what to do, and others you just kinda make it up as you go along. Nobody's perfect, and you're doing the best you can.

That was true when you were 10 years old, it's true now, and it'll be true when you're 80 years old. It's true of everyone else as well.

Everyone is the oldest they've ever been. Imagine someone who is 80 years old. They've never been 80 before. Sure, they were 79 before that, and 78 two years earlier. But now they're 80 and they have zero experience with being 80. It is a unique situation to have 80 years of experiences and to know that there is probably only a few years remaining to gather new ones. The body doesn't work as well as it once did, and it's only going to get worse.

All of that is a new experience for the 80 year old. That person has never been 80 before. It's true of parents. Each day is a new experience. They've never raised a 16 year old before. If they have, then they have an older child who is now 18, and they've never dealt with having an 18 year old and a 16 year old at the same time. Every day is new to us, and none of us - I repeat none of us - has ever experienced today before.

Oh sure, we may go into work each day and feel like we're living the true life version of Groundhog Day, but really we're a day older each day, and it's the first time we've ever been 8,803 days old. It's not that different from Day 8,802, but as those days accumulate, we're sure to run into something new and different.

What's the point of an article that is saying that every day is a new day? To suggest that maybe we can lessen the generation gap to those older or younger than ourselves. We all share the fact that we're as old as we've ever been. That we're all figuring out life as we go. That we're all human.

We might just realize that the older generations have figured some things out before us. Maybe, just maybe, they could tell us a thing or two about something timeless. Not about cell phones, pop stars or fuel injection, but perhaps a bit about what it is to deal with life a couple years farther down the road than you've gone. Being your age is old hat, but they're still figuring out how to be their age. They've never been that old before.

Just like you.