My first thought about this question centered around why the person can’t see me. Are they blind? Or are they on a call and my video isn’t working? But then I thought of The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, The Host (S4.E23).
In this episode, Dr. Crusher falls in love with Kareel Odan, a Federation Ambassador. Odan is injured during an attack on a shuttle in which he is traveling. Dr. Crusher discovers that Odan’s species is joined, a host and a symbiont. The symbiont transfers from one host to another. The joined Trill has all the memories of the previous hosts.
Not to get too caught up in the Star Trek universe, the analogy I’m drawing is that we all have a consistent inner-self while our outer-self changes as we grow older. Even as a child, I was sensitive to the feelings of others, cared deeply for all living beings, was a little “wonky”. That inner self has not changed as I grew through my teens with long hair aka Cher or my early adult years in business suits. My inner self has grown with my years of experience; sensitivity tempered with judgment, folly subdued by rationality. I wear my white hair and wrinkles as a badge of honor.
Which me do you want to know? The outer physical person who looks like your grandma? Or the inner me who loves deeply, will rage against the machine, and dance in the light of the moon?
This was good. Both sides of you sound genuine to me, so my answer is both.