One of the strangest parts of getting old is that my peers still look the same underneath

I was just looking at a Christmas card from an old buddy I played football with and he definitely looks all of 40 years old. Greying, salty hair, a thick lumberjack beard, wrinkles on his face, and a hefty gut to accompany his wife and three daughters.

I asked my son what the guy looked like, and he said, “I don’t know, old.”

But I really don’t see him that differently than I did in high school. It’s like he’s the same person but wearing some old people make up.

I was checking out a chick on IG (no pics) from college, and she looks very much like the same person I hung out with 20 years ago. But then I look closely and she’s older, motherly, aged a bit. Again, it’s her but with marks and character, worn by time. A few posts back she had throwback pics to her college days and I could see it, like really see it. She looks VERY different than 20 years ago, but I don’t really see it unless it’s side by side.

Maybe it’s nostalgia resonating on Christmas after little sleep from playing Santa, but it’s weighing on me that I too am aging, noticeably, but I don’t actually notice it as it’s occurring.