I made a deliberate choice to not let that happen to me, and I have loads of fun and act silly most everywhere I go. When people give me that blank look, I feel some pity for the drone and move on. I learned this in my late teens/early 20s, partly by watching my grandmother, who was pretty stuck in most of her attitudes. I vowed I wouldn't be like her. By contrast, my mother was free and vibrant, and listened to the same music I did. Then, sometime in the 80s, my grandmother took me to a luau at her stuffy country club. All these folks in their 70s got up in their mumus and started dancing to Michael Jackson (of course not my grandmother though). I despised Michael Jackson and was determined to have a bad time, but then when I watched them dancing, I had a revelation - why not just have fun whenever you can? If all these people who were born at the turn of the century can loosen up, why not me? It's important not to paint yourself into a corner - don't be an ageist. I find that most people seem to like me and are pretty open with me, regardless of age, probably because of the way I act. People half my age talk to me freely and so I don't have to feel old and out of touch with "youth," whatever that is. Honestly at times I think I felt older when I was 20. I don't play air guitar in my car but I do the waving arm dance. Who cares if someone thinks I look like a dork? I don't feel quite as free as I did when I was a kid, like Mal described, but I'm working on it.
