And Just Like That, Im Old

I’m old.

I guess that can already be said about me. I realized this Friday night at the office when I was singing ” I was dying inside to hold you, couldn’t believe what I felt for you” and my assistant asked me what song was that, and I couldn’t believe he didn’t know the most popular song when I was a highschool freshman. This was the same assistant who told me Claudine Barretto has always been fat, and I was like, didn’t you see that famous scene in Got to Believe in Magic where she was running in her unbelievably tight shirt that showed how sexy and well endowed she was? To which he replied: Anong movie yun? And I said, the one with Rico Yan! And he said: Sino si Rico Yan?

I know, right?!?

My point: There are people in this world— make that adult working people— who were born when I was already in college. Which means that now, I’m the one who talks about the good old days the way my parents did when I was small. Now, I’m the one who says things like, the jeepney fare during our time was P1.50, and one movie then was 30 pesos.  And now, I’m the one who sees these people roll their eyes and shake their heads the way I did when I was small.

But the biggest tragedy of all is not that I’m old, but that the ones I love are also old. So now I have friends who are being treated for hypertension and all sorts of sickness which I only used to hear from old people. My first cousin who was just a few years older than me died just a month ago. And we all know how death has become so real for me ever since my bestfriend Chio died.

I was thinking about all these things on my way to work this morning, and just when I was starting to feel depressed about it, I told myself that I’ll choose instead the happier outlook. And this entails remembering the following:

1. That what matters is not that you’re old, but that there is fullness of life behind those years;

2. That being old means being wise, which, modesty aside, is something that can also be said about me;

3. That having friends who are also old means having friends who have journeyed with you all these years;

4. That being old is just a physical state when your heart is always young;

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY…

5.  That being old doesn’t matter when you’re always being told that you actually look ten years younger.

Haha!

So yes, I’m old, but all these years have taught me that no matter what my age is, I can always trust that the best is yet to come. That was true when I was 16. It was also true when I was 24. And even more true when I was 29. And now that I’m 30 (yes, I’m the type who boldly proclaims my age), I still know that the best is yet to come even though as things stand, I can already say that I’m experiencing the best of life now.

After all, I’m the one who always looks ten years younger. Haha!