Me at 20-something vs. Me at a smidge past 20-something (OK, so, maybe two or three smidges)
The grey started showing when I was in my late thirties, and advanced alarmingly quickly. Still, others noticed before I did.
I was the guest speaker at a youth camp. I called the camp when I arrived at the airport.
“What do you look like?” they asked.
“I have black hair.”
“Great, we’ll send someone!”
Hours passed. I called the camp five times. No one knew where the teenagers they’d sent to pick me up were (they didn’t have cell phones). Finally–four and a half hours later–two teenagers asked, “Are you Mitch Teemley?”
“Yes!” I shouted. I was not a happy (soon-to-be) camper.
“Well, it’s not our fault!” they complained. “You said you had black hair. It’s grey!”
“Well, it was black when I first got here!” I snapped back.
∞
“Age doesn’t matter. Unless you are a cheese.” ~Billie Burke
“Middle age is when your classmates are so grey and wrinkled, they don’t recognize you.” ~Bennett Cerf
“There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It’s called a guillotine.” ~P.G. Wodhouse
“The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” ~Lucille Ball
“Wrinkles only show where smiles have been.” ~Mark Twain
“Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.” ~David Bowie
∞
Mitch Teemley 
I had to laugh when notification came in of your post and I saw the title. That’s so ME as a Gemini. You’d swear there were more than just two of us with all the internal battles as they never agree! I greyed early too. Just the front of my hair at first. I told everyone that part of my brain died. If I didn’t wear bangs I could have easily been mistaken as a 🦨. What a fun post. 🙂
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;>)
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that’s hilarious. in the last year, I’ve let mine slowly turn to silver.
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Love it! #aginggratefully
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“Well, it was black when I first got here!” 😀
You’re a quick wit, Mitch! Maybe the hair color has changed but it seems the mind is still sharp as ever!
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;>) Thanks, Abe!
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Well, I have to say the grey version of you is, mmmm, dignified, wise, stately, and dare I say more fitting for a film maker, writer, … and just all around renaissance man that you are …
I’m 63 and still haven’t gone grey and still look like a pup, these days they ask for ID when I ask for the senior discount … the burdens in life … 😉
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;>)
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Love your quip….about how long you waited to be picked up…and the impact on your hair color! Hilarious…thank you, Mitch. I say you look the same…if we can keep the sparkle in our eyes, who cares about hair – or color! 😉
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Sparkly eyes? Well, OK, then! Thanks, Vicki.
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Yep! Sparkly eyes! 😉
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Good for you for leaving it alone. Once you start coloring, it’s hard to grow grey gradually. I was living in denial for decades, coloring my hair every few weeks. Then when I attended my 50th high school reunion and noticed I was the only one with brown hair, I went cold turkey and had most of the color removed in one day. My friends were shocked, and suddenly strangers were a lot more helpful. (Like that Boy Scout who tried to help me cross the street…
)
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;>) Ah, the bennies of being, ahem, dignified.
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I’m getting ready to hit the big 50 next month. A lot has changed in this bitter face since then. I have the same experience when I tell people I have hair, and they show up and say, ‘You’re bald!”
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Hey, it’s their fault if they don’t specify how much hair, right, Ben? Maybe you need to qualify your “I have hair” claim with, “Several hairs, in fact.” Enjoy your AARP discounts!
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Can’t wait for the AARP movie discounts! If my hair deficiency helps that move faster, time to go Lex Luthor on my head.
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;>)
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You are one of the lucky ones. You look even better in the more recent photo.
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Well… Thanks, Geoff.
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I started coloring my hair in my early forties because I had a new baby and it irritated me when people assumed she was my grandchild. But after a few years of expensive and toxic chemical camouflage, I began to notice how many women my age were letting their hair go gray, and how nice they looked. So I quit with the chemical stuff and let my hair revert to its natural state. (I’m a grandmother for real now, so it fits my image.)
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Rock on, Granda BoB!
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Handsome then and now! A lot of people do look great older and/or with gray hair. I don’t believe that youth instantly makes us attractive, it’s so much more than that and there is beauty in every stage of life 😊
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Aw, gracias, Jari. And I do believe you’re right about every stage of life.
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Handsome back then and still now too! I can see the peace of God in your eyes Mitch, God bless you and your wife.
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Thank you, and blessings on you and yours, as well, Cora!
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Thanks! Enjoy the day!
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Hahaha, I am also alarmed at the rate with which this gray nonsense has taken over my head… I just keep saying “at least it hasn’t fallen out!”, but I’m afraid that God – the greatest comedian – keeps hearing that and the other foot (follicle?) is about to drop…
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Be afraid, AJ, be very afraid.
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I looked up the word “smidge” and…..
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My gray became white in the blink of an eye, Mitch. I didn’t even get the chance to try and “wash the gray out” as it didn’t stick around long enough. Congrats on the beard. I could have stopped shaving in my 20’s and I still wouldn’t have one lol.
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You’re obviously just more evolved than the rest of us, Bruce.
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Mitch, “Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31, CSB).
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My hair is finally starting to get gray in an attempt to catch up with the “vintage” of my face.
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;>) Hah! It was the opposite for me, Liz. When I auditioned for movies and commercials back in the day, they’d say, “You look too young for your hair.” No one tells me that now.
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Luck of the gene pool, I guess!
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You are so funny!! And that’s a very nice photo of you. Very vibrant!
I’ll be 60 in August and hardly have any gray. But I’m not dying my hair anymore because I want to embrace the gray when it does come. I’m pro-aging. I love my age. I agree with the Bowie quote 100 percent!
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I agree, Maryanne. And thank you, btw.
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My husband is SNOW WHITE as well and I think he looks very handsome. Me and my gray mess? Not so much, it has to go 🙂
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;>)
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Years ago when my father-in-law (deceased) turned 80, we bought him a sweatshirt with a tree on it with the words “Eighty isn’t old if you’re a tree.” He loved it. His sense of humor kept him young at heart.
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I love it.
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Handsome guy…love the gray hair.
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Aw, thank, Janice.
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Handsome, with and without the gray. I have always had dark hair. I WISH my hair would gray, more than it has. I want lighter hair. It won’t cooperate.
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;>) Hair does tend to go its own way, both figuratively and literally.
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That is so true of mine. OY.
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I love your hair! You look amazing! And I love the title. 🤣
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Aw, thank you, Iman.
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You still have a great sense of humor – though I bet you have mellowed a bit! As a redhead I hoped I’d take after my mother who just got a little lighter until she was a dark strawberry color. Instead I take after her mother – and I still have red hair but with white “Bride of Frankenstein” stripes at my temples! At least my Halloween costume is easy enough to do…
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Actually, red hair with white stripes sounds beautiful, Muri!
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It must always be remember growing old is a luxury some people never get to experience. The most important thing is to stay fit and health and enjoy the time that is gifted to us.
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Amen to that, Paula.
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I laughed aloud! Thank you. May we all age graciously and gratefully – and a little humor helps!
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I went to meet an old coworker at a restaurant for lunch. I sat at the bar waiting and waiting for him to show up. I kept looking around, noting the ‘old gray-haired guy’ sitting at a table facing away. The old guy was looking for a friend too. He kept noticing the bald guy sitting at the bar. Sigh.
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;>)
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Aside from the hair color, you look the same! (And I want to know your secret for not aging….) But as someone who also went grey early, I loved your response!!!
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;>)
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funny comeback to those teenagers! 🙂 enjoyed the story and the quotes. 🙂
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So glad you enjoyed it, Katie.
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Lovely piece . . . Made me laugh 😂
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The quote by David Bowie says it all!
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I love those first 4 quotes on aging you shared – very funny!
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Thanks for the good laugh!
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My pleasure, BPoV (afraid I don’t know your name).
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Oh, I’m Monica. 🙂
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Ah, got it. Thanks, Monica.
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