Age is Only a Number Bella

 

 

               So Bella and I were sitting at the kitchen table chatting one day while she was in town visiting......"Gramma, how old are you?"

 

"How old do you think I am sweetie?"

 

"Nindy-nine."

 

"What?  NInety-nine? (Look of utter disgust, which immediately elicited giggles.) No way!"

 

"A Hundred Sevendy-Seven." (Giggle, giggle.)

"WHAT! Get out of town! No Way Jose. (Bella is laughing hysterically.) I'm 62 years old Bella Joy."

 

"No, a bazillion years old.  You're a gazillion years old Gramma." laughing all the way.

"Oh Yeah...."

I could see where this was heading, and that was okay with me.  As far as I was concerned, the more Bella laughed about my getting older...and not worrying about it...the better.  It seems she's been thinking about age and people dying...and about the possibility of people close to her leaving her.  My daughter, Julie, has been as honest with her as possible and told her that yes, everybody dies eventually; but she and daddy plan to be around a very long time.  She asked about me and why I had to be old.  Julie gave her the best answer she could.  Now I know why she brought it up at my house.  It's also why I made a comedy routine out of it.

I never remember thinking about my parents or grandparents dying as a kid very much, but my daughter Jenna told me there were times when she thought about death and people dying as a kid but never really talked about it much.  I do remember feeling very lucky as a child having all of my grandparents alive when several of my friends had lost theirs... until somewhere around eight or nine years old when I lost my maternal grandfather....whom I was very fond of.  That was my first experience with death.  It wasn't until many years later that I would lose my other grandparents....and my own beloved father, all fairly close together, that I would really feel a shift in my world.

Somehow Bella at the tender age of five started asking these questions. (Although she just turned six about a week ago.)  I think Bella is a little ethereal soul...and she may come by that honestly through her Grandma and her Aunt Jenna. We all have noticed that she has a lot of Aunt Jenna in her.  They like a lot of the same things.....myths and stories, games, fantasies, etc.  Maybe part of it is that Jenna's a teacher...and she just understands Bella instinctively.  Jenna had a great time with Bella and Bastian when they were in town.  They ran her ragged; but she didn't seem to mind.  She loves those two kids....and besides, she helped out a lot and took a lot of pressure off of this 'gazillion-year-old' Gramma.

P.S.

These made me laugh....Enjoy....SENIOR BUMPER STICKERS (Click on picture to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       Hope you had a few chuckles over those.          Love, Joy 

Comments

[Kay Dennison]

Great post about aging and Bella's perspective!!! And I need a couple of those bumper stickers!!!!

You look pretty good for gazillion, girlfriend!!!

[cassie-b]

Funny about little children and their conception of the ages of people around them. Sometimes they think you're old, and sometimes they think just the opposite. I think grey hair is a factor in some of their age decisions.

And it's true - age is only a number to five year olds.

[Beverly]

When I taught first grade, sometimes the children would ask me how old I was. I guess they wanted to be on my good side, because when I asked them how old they thought I was, they would say something like "29?" "Sure," I said, smiling to myself.

They would call me "mom" and then they started calling me "grandma." At first I would correct them, nad then I realized I was probably older than some of their grandmothers...

I love the bumper stickers. The one about paying up front would be a good one for here in Florida. The seniors keep the restuarants in business around here.

[Betty]

Love the bumper stickers. I don't recall ever thinking about anyone dying until my dad's brother died when I was about nine.

[Nancy]

My grandson asked me how old I was and I said I was 70.

He got this incredulous look on his face and said," Wow, Nanny, 70 years old! Did you start at one?

That was 10 years ago. What do you think he would say now?

[Junie Rose]

Joy,

:) I loved reading this.

I think my 'grands' have always considered me old... lol- and I guess NOW I really am!

Junie

[Maria]

I doubt if either of us will feel a grizzilon years old no matter how long we live and let us hope there are many wonderful years ahead to share with our grandchildren and maybe when we are close to grissilon, our great grandbabies.

I love the bumper stickers and if you don't mind, I am going to print them out for my widow's group meeting tomorrow morning. We need a good laugh!

[Tara R.]

The bumper stickers are hilarious. I need the 'wake up grumpy' one. Sounds like you handled Bella's questions about your age wonderfully.

[Darlene]

Love the laughter of children :)

The bumper stickers have me laughing for sure!

[kenju]

As you know, I just spent a week with my 9 year old granddaughter. The things she said were all priceless, but I can't remember any!!

My dad would have loved the BMW joke.

[Merle]

Dearest Joy ~~Kids say the cutest things and are so outright. One of my grands asked what color my hair used to be, and there is still some dark brown at the back. The bumper
stickers are so funny. Thanks for sharing them. Thank you also for the comments and that you were glad about my health report ~ alll good for now. That garden was so great, but is fictitious I think. It was only a joke that was
sent to me by Ann Adams (rocrebelgranny). I am glad you are doing so well also Joy and enjoying your family. Take care my
friend. Love, Merle.

[jen]

My son used to talk a lot about it at around the same age as Bella too. He was really worried that if something happened to me, what would happen to him. I kept reasurring him I plan to be around for a long time too, but he'll be looked after if something does happen to me.

[MaryB]

So funny, Joy! Age is indeed just a number - a very big number.

[miffy]

Joyful...great post. I remember being told by the priest in our cathecism class that I would go to hell because I did not bring my books and did not know the act of contrition! I was horrified and went home crying because I thought I would die and my Mom and Dad would not be there. I would be alone. I remember my telling me not to worry, that I wasn't going anywhere. I persisted. She finally reassured me that if I did die, the Jetsons and Flinstones would keep me safe until she got there. That is all I needed!!

[Cop Car]

Love the bumper stickers. When our elder daughter was about 5 or 7, one of her playmates asked how old I was. "One hundred three!", I told her. None of the kids paused before going back to play. It was a reasonable answer to them!
(This is the comment that I didn't get to post before leaving on my trip. Now you know!)