On the GenX subreddit recently, there’s been a surge in posts titled “Me at 17” and “Me Today” (~ around age 55) that are accompanied with photos.
The “Me at 17” photos all look familiar to me. They include high school senior photos, early military class photos, prom photos, partying photos and some photos with friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. I recognize the big hair on the girls, the clothing everyone wore, the cars in the background, the flock of seagulls and mullet hairstyles on the dudes, that look of having an entire life of possibilities in front of us.
The “Me Today” photos are quite revealing. My favorites include high school sweethearts who are still married and look happy today. A few solo shots are of dudes in gym attire my age who are clearly using TRT to look unnaturally lean and muscular. There are a handful of women who look surprisingly youthful and pretty…until I realize that they have the “no pores…no wrinkles…perfect teeth…uncanny valley look” that are a telltale sign of photo editing and filters.
Everyone else in their “Me Today” photos look real. Real old.
The men are bald or grey haired. The woman are wrinkled and flabby. Most people are much heavier than they were at 17. Very few people appear to be in better shape.
It’s interesting to see people posting photos that show a transformation from a typical Genx teen to now. There were a few men who transitioned to women (old and unattractive women). There were a number of women who now have wild tattoos, hair colors, facial piercings and outfits I don’t usually associate with “old ladies.” Some people appear to have smoked, drank, partied a lot or hard a hard life (although I could be wrong and this could just be what 55 looks like).
I have no plans to my own photos to this thread. Photos of me at show a skinny dude who had beautiful long hair and a Jesus-like beard/mustache whose entire life was ahead of him and was full of hope and possibility.
I’m not that guy anymore.
Today, I look like my grandfather, whose best days were behind him but was generally fine with living in the present.
Me at 17.
