It's funny how...
When I was a kid I've had to, like every other kid on the planet, endure people dropping by and saying "Oh! You've grown sooo big since I last saw you." When I was at an age when I started forming opinions I used to think "Well, what did you expect?! Of course I've grown."
That said, it's funny how the mental image that you have of a person ages slower than the physical being of the person. Although logic might dictate that a person you haven't seen in a long time will be older, the mind fully expects to see a person that more or less conforms to the most recent snapshot of the person it filed away. This sank in when I was at LaGuardia waiting to see my parents after two years. When I saw them get off the escalator the first thought that ran through my mind was "Damn! They look frail... almost as if they've shrunk." I'd also planned out my parents' stay with the usual tourism thrown in. I found that I constantly had to re-evaluate itineraries that had seemed feasible because my parents tired a lot faster than I'd imagined.
It takes some getting used to when you see loved ones after a long time and realize that they are a lot older and more frail than you'd imagined.
That said, it's funny how the mental image that you have of a person ages slower than the physical being of the person. Although logic might dictate that a person you haven't seen in a long time will be older, the mind fully expects to see a person that more or less conforms to the most recent snapshot of the person it filed away. This sank in when I was at LaGuardia waiting to see my parents after two years. When I saw them get off the escalator the first thought that ran through my mind was "Damn! They look frail... almost as if they've shrunk." I'd also planned out my parents' stay with the usual tourism thrown in. I found that I constantly had to re-evaluate itineraries that had seemed feasible because my parents tired a lot faster than I'd imagined.
It takes some getting used to when you see loved ones after a long time and realize that they are a lot older and more frail than you'd imagined.