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Original poster

I found out yesterday that I am a year younger than I thought I was

84 replies

BigButtons · 04/01/2022 16:42

Somehow- I am not sure when this happened- sometime last year I guess - I jumped a year in my head. I was convinced I had turned ned 55 in September.
Was only when talking about birthdays with a friend who was born in the same year as me did they put me right. I was elated and horrified at the same time.

Time has had little meaning these last couple of years I suppose

Please say I’m not the only one to get their own age wrong ?

OP posts:

Cherryana · 04/01/2022 17:02

I had a baby on my 32 birthday. For more than a few years after that I couldn't remember how old I was because I sort of missed that birthday.

It was only when I had a 40th birthday party and had something to 'hang my age on' that I can remember straight away again!

Powaqa · 04/01/2022 17:05

I am the opposite. I am not counting birthdays for 2020 or 2021 so I am 2 years younger than I should be

insancerre · 04/01/2022 17:05

I’ve done this loads of times
I don’t actually keep track of how old I am
I used to do it by thinking of how old Dh is and then taking off 4 years, but I’ve now lost track of how old he is as well!

Clymene · 04/01/2022 17:06

Yep. I spent nearly the whole of my 53rd year believing I was 54. Bloody annoying.

LoveFall · 04/01/2022 17:16

What a relief to find out I'm not alone in this! I thought it was some sort of mental memory glitch that foreshadowed dementia.

thehillswerebright · 04/01/2022 17:17

I remember being about 11 and my mum had to give her date of birth and she said 25 October 1951 (not actual date), I said no her birthday is 26 October 1950. She had massive argument with me in front of staff. Got home and pulled out her birth certificate, I was right. My mum and dad also think their wedding anniversary is the day after the actual date.

My oh keeps saying our eldest is 12, nope she's 10🙄

Echobelly · 04/01/2022 17:18

Yes, about two years ago, when I turned 42, I started never being quite sure! I keep switching between a year younger or older than I am!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 04/01/2022 17:21

My DH still teases me about the fact I got HIS age wrong for his birthday last year (I took a year off his age). Its been 11 months now... and he still finds it funny.

Sgtmajormummy · 04/01/2022 17:23

DD once asked me how old I was and I said 45 without thinking…
Well, no, I was 48!

Original poster

BigButtons · 04/01/2022 17:24

@FruitMelange

Right after a birthday I start thinking about how old I'll be on my next birthday. My brain then convinces me that's how old I am now

That's exactly what happens to me. It's thrown me a few times.

This is it- that is what I did!!

OP posts:

Illdoitinabit · 04/01/2022 17:33

Not quite a birthday but still age related. A few years ago my auntie was telling me and my mum all about her anniversary plans with my uncle, it was their 30th so we're spending it in Egypt. Until my mum reminded them it was their 31st anniversary, they'd pretty much forgotten to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary!

RustyBear · 04/01/2022 17:34

Not my age, but my birthday. For years we thought my birthday was August 4th, then a magazine published one of those perpetual calendars that tell you what day of the week any date was, and my birthday was apparently a Saturday. My mum said they must have got it wrong because she knew I was born on a Friday. We dug out an old diary of my grandad's, just to check which day of the week August 4th really was, and discovered my birth recorded on the 3rd! So then we checked my birth certificate and found it really was the 3rd. (This was all years ago, before you had to prove your date of birth for so many things, and before foreign holidays were common, so I'd never had a passport, and no-one had ever needed to look at my birth certificate) My grandad's diary for the year after my birth was missing, and the next year's had it as the 4th, so the mistake must have happened sometime before my second birthday.

ludocris · 04/01/2022 17:37

This happened to my cousin recently. She casually mentioned being 39 and turning 40 soon. Her mum, who was also involved in the conversation, clarified that she was actually 37. Turns out my cousin had been telling a lot of people she was about to turn 40. I was flabbergasted that she could get this wrong!

BarbaraofSeville · 04/01/2022 17:46

I realised yesterday that I'm 50 next year.

Not sure how that happened, I don't even feel like a proper grown up yet.

maa32 · 04/01/2022 17:47

I turned 29 in September, my mum thought I was 30

NeverDropYourMooncup · 04/01/2022 17:54

DP thought he was 39 and got a bit mopey about his age right up to about a week before his birthday.

It's conveniently absolved me of my inability to ever remember the year of his birth and the first part of his phone number.

I thought I was 50 in nine days and I'm not telling him I skipped a year in my head as well

PattyPan · 04/01/2022 17:56

@Powaqa

I am the opposite. I am not counting birthdays for 2020 or 2021 so I am 2 years younger than I should be

Me too, I turned 25 shortly before the pandemic and will be sticking with that age until coronavirus is eradicated!

deeedeee · 04/01/2022 18:18

I did the same! I thought I was 47 for a year before my 47th birthday. Still not entirely sure how old I am. Have to work it out every time

NurseIngaHangover · 04/01/2022 18:35

For my 21st birthday I got a "Happy 18th Birthday" card... from my mother!

Pbbananabagel · 04/01/2022 18:43

@RaisedbySloths same here!

cloudtree · 04/01/2022 18:53

I have to ask DH how old I am every time. I just can’t keep it straight in my head

liveforsummer · 04/01/2022 19:21

I'm struggling now at 42. By 55 I'm sure I won't have a clue 😆

Stormbraver99 · 04/01/2022 19:55

I must admit, I have got to the stage now where I forget how old I am (which probably isn't a bad thing!).

I was convinced I was turning 47 last October. I even told friends in the lead up to my Birthday "I'll be 47 this time".
It was only on my actual Birthday that my brother put me straight.
I had to count up from my birth year, 1975 to get to the age I am - 46.

I blame it on being perimenopausal.

It would have been worse if I'd missed a year! I was quite happy being 46 "again".

Annabelle69 · 04/01/2022 22:49

@SirChenjins

My colleague somehow managed to knock a decade off her age for a while - it was a genuine mistake as she really isn’t someone who would pretend to be younger. She was absolutely mortified when she realised - as she said, “everyone must have thought, fuck, she’s not aged well when I told them how old I was”. Gave us a good laugh

@SirChenjins I was once told by my Aunty to add a decade ON to your age. Idea was that everyone would say "Wow you look fabulous for 50!" ... when you're really 40. It could backfire though, if no one says anything and accepts your age as perfectly reasonable

amusedbush · 05/01/2022 09:19

Not exactly the same situation but this has made me laugh for years.

I know someone who was on a night out and a bouncer stopped her and asked how old she was. She panicked and said ‘um… 18’. He asked for ID and was like when her driving licence showed she was 26

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