This is on my mind today because I heard the comment that “Kevin Bacon certainly isn’t aging well.” Exactly what does that mean?
Here is a recent picture of Kev:
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7720/2473/320/kev_recent.jpg)
Here he is in Footloose:
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7720/2473/320/kev_foot2.1.jpg)
Of course he looks older! He was 26 when he made Footloose and looked like the 17-year-old he played. He’s 48 now … a Boomer.
Is he not aging well because he looks his age? Because he no longer looks 26? Or 17? Forty eight isn’t old, and forty-eight looks younger now than it did in the 1960’s, for example. Our definition of age has changed.
What about Kevin’s wife Kyra Sedgewick?
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7720/2473/320/kyra_recent.jpg)
She plays the lead in the new TV series “The Closer.” Among other things, her complicated character is concerned about turning forty.
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7720/2473/320/kyra_then.jpg)
The person who made these age comments is a 50-something like me. Neither of us looks like we did at age 17 or 26. But neither of us looks 50-something. We both battle weight gain and hair loss. We each reach for glasses to read anything smaller than this. Some people might say we aren’t aging well either. I would disagree.
I said in the very first post on this blog that I’m uncomfortable with saying my age out loud. One reason is because I don’t want people to assume anything about my attitudes, abilities or health because of my age.
For Boomers and everyone else, age is just the number you get when you subtract the year of your birth from the current year. It is part of who we are but it does not have to define us.
2 comments:
wow...what an interesting post. kevin bacon is 48? no way! well i personally think he looks better now than he did as a younger guy. and so does his wife.
what are we supposed to look like anyway? i have no clue. it is hard to tell someone's age nowadays. i do like it that the media is embracing us older folk (i am 42) more than they ever have before. and more so...people over 40 are still classified as hot!
would i want to be twenty again? no way. i feel so much better now mentally and even physically than i did in my twenties. i want to enjoy this time of life.
i love your blog and...i will be spending some time here this evening!
Thanks for visiting, Meander. My daily blog visits include one or more of your blogs.
As enlightened as boomers are supposed to be, we still wrestle with what 40-something or 50-something is supposed to look like. You certainly don't "look 42" and if I ever get around to posting a picture of me, you'll see that I don't look "50-whatever." Yes, people over 40 are still classified as hot, you among them.
I wouldn't want to be 20 again either. I'm happy to be living in Boomerville.
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