I had a great post I was going to do this week. I thought about it for days and it was going to be good. Then I sat down to write it and … yup, can’t remember what it was. It was interesting and timely, but my brain seems to have lost whatever electrochemical pointer it had to it and I have no clue what it was.
Age, I blame it on age. You know what they say, there are two signs of aging, memory loss is the first.
I’m not sure when it happened, but one day I looked at my hands and they looked old. Then I noticed the guy in the mirror seemed a lot older than me. Like my dear old daddy used to say (and he liked being called my dear old daddy), “What’s this young kid doing looking out of this old face?”
There are whole days like that now. What I find odd lately is that old people seem to be younger than they use to be. Just the other day my wife and I were out for a walk around the neighborhood when I commented, “There’s a lot of old people in this area. Must be a popular area to retire too.”
Took a few minutes for the irony of that statement to sink into my brain and remember that I’m one of those older retirees in the neighborhood. Heather did mention that she was getting old, but I said, “Yes, but you’re a young old.” Heck she’s older than me and can outwalk me on most days.
I’m sure I have a better memory though. Except for that blog post I wanted to write.
No, I mean it – I see a lot of old people who are younger than me. Even my friends seem to be older. I was talking to a friend just last week – you know exchanging medical information – when he described a condition that he has. After the call, I looked it up, that’s an old people’s disease. Dude!
Now it would be easy to complain long and loud about getting older, but it has its positive side:
You get to order from the senior menu.
Going to the store is considered a day out.
Scheduling appointees is much easier – “I’m retired – anytime works.”
You can now wear anything you want – the fashion police aren’t interested in the 55+ set.
Traffic is no longer a problem. I don’t leave the house till 10 and make sure I’m back by 3.
There are things that are a bit weird. Like being older than my doctor. She’s nice and knowledgeable, but she got out of med school after I’d been working for 30 years. It can be strange taking advice on aging from someone who never used a rotary phone or watched “Get Smart.” I’ve had to repeatedly remind her to refrain from using the phrase, “At your age,” or anything remotely like that.
The dentist is another strange thing. Before I moved, I had a dentist who was my age and also had grandkids. It was nice talking to him and sharing common experiences. Here in Reno, my dental hygienist is in her late 20’s and says things like, “There was TikTok thing …” and “My mom still likes YouTube.” My new dentist is also young, but likely the oldest person in the office.
Well, I’ve been writing for awhile and still can’t remember what I came here to write about, so I’ll just stop. Hopefully I’ll remember by next week.
Andrew's View of the Week 