Just An Extra Tick or Two in the Tens Column

By Megan

This past weekend Al and I both celebrated our birthdays.

(Why thank you!)

We do it that way every year because we seriously love efficiency. And also because we were actually born a day (and a few years, jab jab) apart.

And we’re OLD. Some might even say we’re too old for these ittybitty little children of ours. While other people our age are rapidly going gray watching their teenyboppers (See? I’m old. I said teenyboppers! Hey, at least I didn’t say whippersnappers. Then I’d REALLY be old.) date and drive and get their own credit cards, Al and I are rapidly going gray (Well, he’s going gray. I’ve, um, somehow managed to maintain the exact same shade of blonde with blonder highlights for going on 8 years now. Funny how that works.) getting up in all kinda wee hours of the night and morning with a newborn, and sending our elder baby off to preschool only to discover when we pick her up that her shoes have been on the wrong feet for the duration of the school day.

I’m not complaining, though. These kids of ours both came along at the right time of life for us;  I firmly believe that. I’ll level with you, I know some really mature, responsible twenty-somethings, but in my twenties, I had a truly difficult time commiting to a lunch order from the corner deli, much less the lifelong journey of parenthood. And even until the very final years of my third decade,  I was all about me, all about career,  and all about Um, no thank you! A baby would clash with my fabulous shoes.

The latter thirties and these early forties that seem to have snuck up on me while I was busy falling in love and getting married finally find me a little older and a little wiser (I guess. Although maybe I’ll look back from my fifties and chuckle at that notion). Also, BONUS! I no longer hive up at the sound of a kid wailing in a restaurant — not even my own kid. I’ve mellowed in my old age, learned something about what’s really important, and I’m even able to face the concept that life isn’t just about taking care of ME – heck, taking care of my husband and kids give me more joy than every pair of fabulous shoes I’ve ever owned, put together. (And I’ve owned some seriously fabulous shoes in my lifetime.)

I don’t know … I guess that’s maturity?

But I’ll admit since we found out Mr. Peabody was on his way last November, Al and I have both expressed doubts about our ability to handle another tiny baby in this, our dotage. Staring down the barrel of that second pink line ten months ago, I was all OH NO! I CAN’T DO THIS AGAIN! SOB SOB! I’M TOO OLD AND MY BODY WILL BE TOAST WHEN IT’S OVER!

And Al was all OH YEAH, BABY! HEH HEH HEH – I STILL GOT IT!

Then upon the little man’s actual birth, our roles reversed and I was all CHECK ME OUT! I HAD A BABY AT FORTY AND I CAN GET ON MY SKINNY JEANS A WEEK LATER. HACHACHACHAA! And Al, now experiencing the actual realities of a new baby (rather than just looking on proudly as his knocked-up wife waddled around advertising his amazing late-life fertility), namely a dramatically-reduced number of hours he could devote to shut-eye, suddenly began lamenting droopily, TOO O-O-OLD FOR THIS. SIGH. TOO O-O-OLD.

Uh huh! This is what I’ve been tryin’ to tell you, Gramps!

Yet for a couple of geezers, we’re hanging in there pretty well, I guess. We’re sleepy, but what parent doesn’t get all boggle-eyed and stupid-tired with a newborn in the house? We even get cranky, but I’d say that’s within the scope of normalcy for Moms and Dads of all ages, wouldn’t you?

Maybe the only thing that sets us apart is an extra tick or two in the tens column, after all.

Now to just get the kids outta diapers before one or both of us goes into Depends.

Megan can also be found blogging at Fried Okra.

10 Responses to Just An Extra Tick or Two in the Tens Column
  1. edj
    September 22, 2008 | 7:13 am

    My husband and I are exactly 3 days apart in age. I always talk about “our birthdays” and it just sounds kind of creepy, like we’re twins or something.
    And I was always sleepy and cranky when the kids were babies. I think it’s par for the course. My parents were older, in their mid-40s when I was born. It worked out just fine.

  2. Dawn
    September 22, 2008 | 12:41 pm

    Both my dh and I share the same month…and we are considered “middle of the road” aged parents. Still no matter the age, parenting is not for whimps!

    Our Birthday month is also our Anniversary month,
    last year we bit the bullet and went out for a weekend getaway..it went well and we really enjoyed the time away..we going to try again this year (next month) to do the same thing again cause in the end it’s gonna be me and him just as it was in the beginning!

  3. Tina
    September 22, 2008 | 1:39 pm

    Obviously, I’m relating to THIS post. I realized the other day, given a few more years, we could get into theme parks on both the senior discount and the child discount.

    Oh, and for the record, kids screaming in restaurants still make me want to stick a fork in my ear. I didn’t get the ability to turn off hearing that is supposed to come with motherhood.

  4. Micki Harlow
    September 22, 2008 | 3:22 pm

    Too funny. My husband is 50, me 37, and we have college, high school, middle school, elementary school aged children, and a toddler (8 kids in all). We don’t do theme parks. Instead, we just bought a house with a pool where their friends can come and play.

    I can tune out other people’s kids screaming. Maybe it takes having a lot of kids to dull your hearing. If my kids are too loud in a restaurant, I go out to the car with them until they can act properly in public. (I cook a lot instead of going to restaurants as the car thing is not so fun.)

  5. PastormacsAnn
    September 22, 2008 | 10:13 pm

    Great post! You two are awesome!

  6. Moriah
    September 23, 2008 | 9:12 am

    Oh Megan, you do so make me laugh.

  7. Valerie
    September 23, 2008 | 4:55 pm

    You are so funny, I love to read your posts!

    You know, I am stupid tired most of the time, I have dark circles and bags under my eyes and cranky and I are very close friends. So yeah, that happens to parents of any age.

    Great post.

  8. CanCan
    September 28, 2008 | 11:52 am

    You are so funny.
    But I do understand the thrill of gettin’ back into those jeans!

  9. Ima Peccable
    October 5, 2008 | 3:36 pm

    I love the trading places with hubby bit! Ain’t that so typical the way things go?

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