My friend Rachel has a thing or two to say about ageing and being old — A taxonomy of aging based on the elder tree:

the “old” are forever the Other, older than us, not like us. Until they are like us. And we are them. …

a mature tree (our 50s and 60s); an elderflower (our 70s and 80s); an elderberry (our 90s and more)

@Miraz Good to see I'm still a mature tree.

@Miraz I turn 67 March 12th. 😮

@alexink I turned 69 last week. 😁

@Miraz Oh, damn, did I miss your birthday? Many belated birthday wishes.

@ddanielson Oh, will you look at that. Happy birthday!!

@alexink I kept fairly quiet about it… 😆

@cheribaker Nice analogy, eh!

@Miraz Indeed you did. I hope you had a fab day.

@Miraz Love this on many levels!

What does it say that I often *feel like an elderflower, yet chronologically am not yet a mature tree? 🥴

@jessekelber 😁 With me it tends to be the other way round. I guess it's a good thing we're not all just stereotypes…

@Miraz
100%!
Are you familiar with the idea of the Perennial?
We defy the standard "Generation blah" label:
https://www.fastcompany.com/3064977/your-obsession-with-millennials-wont-survive-2017

@jessekelber One revelation I had from a book a few years ago was that people in the 65-95 age group are much less alike than people in the 1-15 age group, yet surveys etc often only have a 65+ category. See Ashton Applewhite www.amazon.com/This-Chai...

@Miraz
Interesting, I'll chuck that on my library to-read list (and probably my mom's list as well!). Thanks!

@jessekelber Four years since I read it but it was full of great info.