"There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely know...very often find confusion in conclusion ,I concluded long ago. ". A cousin of mine who I hadn't been in touch with for years recently contacted myself and other cousins of mine in New York and Florida. She lives in San Diego. Our maternal grandmothers were sisters. Whether they were called bebe or nana or grandma..all sisters.

Anyway, this San Diego cousin sent me and my "cuzzies", (how I refer to them), a 1931 photograph of our grandmothers. There were 5 sisters ,one of which never had children who lived in Los Angeles, three of them lived in the New York City area and one in upstate NY. My great grandmother and grandfather are in that 1931 photo too. I recognized my great grandmother from other photos I had seen of her. She passed away when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I had never seen my great grandfather in a photo from among old photos I have put away somewhere from my mother.

Now....here's the confusion or delusion if you prefer. My grandmother was born in 1902 so she'd be about 29 in that old photo. My daughter will be 29 in a couple of months. My grandmother looks old enough to be her grandmother....at the same age. !!!! In fact all these 5 sisters in 1931 look like grandmothers..They were wearing heavier coats in the photo so I suppose it was taken in the colder months . I couldn't imagine any of them looking like the scantily clad curvy women of around 30 today in bathing suits. So what gives? Is it the clothes they wore? Is it our genes today that make us look younger? Is it today's modern medicine and nutrition and exercising knowledge that makes us appear younger.

Perhaps it those old black and white photos? No instamatic cameras or those like the Swinger Polaroid camera where the Polaroid roll of film was developed outside the camera. No flash cubes or Magic cubes back then and certainly nobody taking photos with their tablets, Ipads, or call phones. So, I ask? What's the story with these older looking women and men back in those days? Is 70 the new 50 today? Was 30 then, 70 today? My wife is 14 years older than a photo I have of my grandmother when she was 56 and my wife looks 25 years younger than my grandmother.

Is it our perception of people as we get older? It's true that growing up, myself and kids my age thought anyone over 50 was considered old and over 60..elderly and older than that..ancient and they often looked that way and acted that way too walking with canes, wrinkled like a prune , with obvious missing teeth. my daughter's middle school children think that she's old. OMG. I'm 67. If she's old,then what am I ? "Tis a Puzzlement".
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