We are the elders now. This thought comes to me, not for the first time.

We are the elders now. I am remembering my mom making cookies from scratch. Battering chicken for frying. Whipping mashed potatoes. Lumpy gravy. She never could quite get all the lumps out.

We are the elders now. I am remembering my paternal grandmother and her gaggle of friends. Hand rolling dough for apple pies large enough to feed the army of children playing in the yard. Telling stories of days gone by.

We are the elders now. My granddad in his den. Cherry tobacco in his pipe. I can smell it even now. Telling stories of his plane from the war. The one where freedom was fought for.

We are the elders now. Sipping tea and rocking in chairs complaining about the heat. I remember my great aunts every time I wrap a cool washrag around my neck. We’d call that a “hack” these days.

We are the elders now. Learning the technology two steps behind our own children.

We are the elders now. In this world that changes as we sleep. Evolving at unimaginable speeds never before experienced.

I scroll through social media and wonder who these old people are looking back at me. Bald men, women in glasses. And then they message me “remember when…” we are the elders now.

Some days, I feel so young. Do I really have a teen of my own? How can that possibly be? And this friend from youth has great grandchildren. We were babies ourselves, just last week. We are the elders now.

We are the elders now. Am I really only six years away from the age my former mother-in-law was when she retired? I feel so young.

How can I be an elder when I still have so many questions. When I am just now figuring out who I want to be when I grow up. Who will be here to guide me as I grow? We are the elders now. Figuring it out as we go.