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Turning 36, no turning back

By Catherine Toth Fox • March 29, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Last year on my birthday I woke up with a pounding headache.

At first I thought I had a migraine. Everything — the light outside, the noise from the TV, my dog licking my feet — was bothering me.

I was in severe pain, didn’t want to get out of bed, could barely think clearly.

When it donned on me: I didn’t have a migraine. I had a hangover.

At the age of 35, I was experiencing — for the first time in my life — what most 21-year-olds wake up with the day after their birthdays.

It was a bit pathetic, I’ll be honest, but it was also a hard lesson: I wasn’t a young kid anymore. I was getting old. And that meant my body wasn’t as resilient — or tolerant — as it used to be.

Now, I realize 36 isn’t that old. But it’s not young, either. If I got pregnant now, the chances for chromosomal abnormalities is substantially higher. If I wanted to lose weight now, it would be twice as hard, as my metabolism has slowed and my ability to burn calories on the decline.

Great.

But there are upsides to being older. I know better, for one. And I tend to care less about what people think of me or my wardrobe choices.

We are a society obsessed with our ages, with getting older. We do anything to stay younger, from eye creams that promise reduction of wrinkles to major surgery to restore our bodies to our previously youthful state. It’s a lot of pressure to not get old.

But, for whatever reason, I’m not worried about getting older. At least not yet. I actually like the fact that I’m in my 30s. I feel like people will take me seriously, that I’m not some young kid trying to assert herself in the “adult world.”

I say that now. We’ll see how I feel when I turn 40.

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Catherine Toth Fox

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29 Comments

  • Reply MaxMaxMax March 28, 2011 at 10:34 pm

    Hau’oli La Hanau Cat! Age is just a number… I truly believe that!

  • Reply EdW March 28, 2011 at 10:35 pm

    Happy Birthday enjoy yourself life goes by too quick

  • Reply M March 28, 2011 at 11:51 pm

    Hello Cat!
    Happy Birthday!
    36! I thought you were younger! and that’s not old at all. You are as young as you feel in your heart.

  • Reply hawaii2000 March 29, 2011 at 12:22 am

    Seriously thought you were in your 20’s. Whatever you’re doing to look younger than you are, keep it up! And Happy Birthday!

  • Reply Ynaku March 29, 2011 at 2:11 am

    You know you getting old when kids in History make reports about current events when we were kids. Bwaaaaaaa

  • Reply lihinggirl March 29, 2011 at 5:06 am

    Happy 36th Birthday, Cat!

  • Reply WERUreo March 29, 2011 at 6:55 am

    Happy Birthday Cat!

  • Reply chant808 March 29, 2011 at 10:07 am

    Whaaat… does this mean I have to start calling you “Aunty,” Cat?J/k <3 Happy birthday, again!

  • Reply Melissa808 March 29, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    @chant808 *shakes fist*

  • Reply CodyZamboni March 29, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    Happy 36th birthday. You look better than alot of 26 year olds. You’re one of the few women I know who openly discuss their age. That’s refreshing.

  • Reply matti2d March 29, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    happy birthday, hauoli la hanau, otanjoobi omedetoo gozaimasu, feliz aniversario, feliz cumpleanos!

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    If age is a number, I should pick a good number 🙂

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    @EdW Thanks for the birthday wishes! Time sure does fly by! I’m the age my mom was and she had three kids!

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    @M Yeah, I’m a lot older than I feel…

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    @hawaii2000 Maybe I shouldn’t have published my age! Damn!

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    @Ynaku SO TRUE! I was just talking to my students about Wonderphone. They had NO IDEA what I was talking about!

  • Reply MoOgooGuypAN March 29, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    Haven’t you heard? 30’s is the new 20’s and 40’s is the new 30’s. Everything got pushed back because kids nowdays aren’t growing up (mentally) as before. You know everything is video games and social networks. They lack the social skills that us *ahem* older folks grew up with. I’m sure when we hit our 40’s it will be the new 20’s but…until then let’s party like it’s 1999!!! Oh yeah that’s old already. hee hee

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    @Melissa808 @chant808 LOL! I call everyone Aunty, even Derek. I got called that about four years ago and I’ve been “dealing” with it by using it on everyone else. Works! Except I accidentally called Melissa that — and I never lived it down!

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    @CodyZamboni I never thought admitting our age was that big a deal. I mean, it is what it is, right? 🙂

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    @matti2d Multicultural birthday wishes! I dig it!

  • Reply Cat March 29, 2011 at 11:14 pm

    @MoOgooGuypAN So I must be 15!

  • Reply matti2d March 29, 2011 at 11:36 pm

    @Cat @hawaii2000

    nah, in Hawaii, where the second question after you meet someone is “what year you grad?” (after “what school you went?”,obv), the age thing is kinda moot to someone with a calculator or the ability to add/subtract.

  • Reply MaxMaxMax March 29, 2011 at 11:55 pm

    @Cat @Melissa808 @chant808 I have 36 nephews and nieces (kids and grandkids of all my siblings). NONE of them have called me “Uncle.” I make them all call me simply, “Rex!” …and not because of the stigma that comes with the term, but because my oldest nephew is older than me, so his calling me Rex just stuck with everyone else on down. I actually prefer it that way.

  • Reply MaxMaxMax March 29, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    @Cat @EdW My mom had my little sister at 36 (her sixth in total)… PLUS, my brother was a grandfather at 36… NO JOKE! An actual, truly biological grandfather! …and I still feel like a college kid at 45, haha!

  • Reply MaxMaxMax March 29, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    @Cat Haha! Hmmm… if we all could pick our favorite year, I guess 23 would be mine–the year I graduated college and moved to Honolulu!

  • Reply MaxMaxMax March 30, 2011 at 12:01 am

    @Cat @Melissa808 @chant808 Of course all of my friends’ kids here call me “Uncle,” so that concept got shot outta the water, haha!

  • Reply WERUreo March 30, 2011 at 12:21 am

    @Cat @Ynaku oh wow, I must be old, cause I actually remember Wonderphone!

  • Reply turkfontaine March 30, 2011 at 9:24 am

    35 to 45 are the best years. you still have the physical capabilities of youth, but you have the better judgement of elders. you are still attractive, but not obsessed with your appearance. you are grounded in your personality, progressed in you career, respected by peers, looked up to by youth, and the best part: now you can be friends with your parents as equals.

  • Reply dbjack March 30, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Age is a mental thing only.

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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