Obiageli Ojogbo: That Awkward Moment When You Realise Old Age Has Crept In

It was Friday; time to relax from a stressful week and the best way to do that was to go to the cinema. I decked up in my short shorts, crop top, threw on my boots and I was ready to roll. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was pleased with what I saw “girl you are sexy!!!”

I had ten minutes to kill before I could enter the theatre, so I decided to get my popcorn and drink and chill at the entrance when two lovely young ladies (probably 18) walked pass me. “Good evening” they said and walked off to get their popcorn. Truly, they were polite but their smiles, looks, gestures and GREETING rubbed me off the wrong way. They looked so lovely with their wrinkle-free faces, curvy waist and luscious bum that all I heard from that greeting was: “hell, what is she doing here, what is she wearing, can’t she see that this is not her scene?” I looked around and then I noticed (what I had not noticed before) everyone looked so young that I now felt so OLD.

This was the precise moment I realised that I had crossed to the other side. I mean, I know I am not a spring chicken, but I never really considered myself as OLD. I didn’t think people saw me as someone “not young”. It was a sad awakening. I know I would not be young forever; I have nothing against growing old, however, the moment I realised that I was indeed old, it was most depressing. I began to recall those times when I was young and yuppie. I could not remember passing through them, it all seemed hazy now. If I did a strip dance now, would it be sexy or would it be tagged as: “abeg whose aunty is this”, on funny African pics?

I know that this crossing over feeling is triggered by different things, but I was not ready to be aware just yet, I needed a little more time but as they say “what you have seen cannot be unseen”. The irony of it all is that some people may never experience this crossover, as they would remain in the ignorant bliss of being young. I guess they are lucky (or maybe not).

Ten minutes are up; I walked subdued, behind those girls into the theatre, all the while thinking: “they do not even know what they have” (someone probably said the same thing about me when I was their age). Call me malicious, but there is one thing I know for sure and I am happy about – nature is fair to everybody and there would come a time when these youngsters would be where I am now, and they would probably age worse and feel worse.

Now with that as my solace, I watched the movie with joy – tomorrow I would probably feel down again but I will pick myself up and enjoy my life as a “mature” person, hoping it would be a very long time before I am made aware that I have become “elderly”.