I used to think that age equated to percentage of life lived, thus I thought that most people live to close around 100.
But it also made me think that people only get old when they’re like 80.
I mean like actually “old”. The “old” adults were referring to. At that age I considered those 14/15 year old 9th graders old, just a bit different “old”.
I thought my grandparents were old, but old has legitimately changed a lot. In the 80s my maternal grandparents (then in their late 40s or early 50s - about the age I am now) looked like today’s late 60-somethings. Neither had any of their own teeth as it was somewhat common for dentists to recommend full replacement at the first signs of trouble for their generation. I don’t think either had ever worn sunscreen before I was a kid. My grandfather’s appearance was affected by diseases I never had to deal with like Scarlett and Rheumatic fevers. My grandmother got her hair set with nasty chemicals on a weekly for 30 years (I don’t know how it wasn’t so damaged it disintegrated).
My grandfather became the breadwinner for his siblings at 13 too, that’s gotta age a person. FYI: In those days you just had to mail in a form to get your Illinois driver’s license and the state never checked the details.
Damn.
I also heard that dentists used to recommend hard toothbrushes and “If your gums don’t bleed you’re not brushing hard enough.”
Although that may depend on region.