Aging

There are many things that are much more fun than getting older. I could list them here, but I’m not sure this blog will allow that much text. But a few of those that top the list would be the length of time it takes for sore muscles to recover, the fear of planning (or not planning) for retirement and generally the notion that you are just not as smart as you thought you were at 20. I know now that if you knew everything at a young age you wouldn’t try. The “that only applies to other people” syndrome is what makes you try to put a different spin on things that have been around forever. It’s a good thing.

But one of the main things that haunts me as I get older is the fact that as I age, so does everything around me. I know this is basic math, but it’s not something I spent much time thinking about as a young man. In my 50 (almost) years I’ve lost many people that I cared a great deal about, but I’ve also lost cars, dogs and other things that I assumed would last forever. The first time I handed my father the broken plastic gun that he could not fix, the lesson began. Things just wear out and there is nothing you can do about it.

Some of the greatest battles I’ve ever witnessed have come from the battle against aging. Flashy new cars, “hip” wardrobes and spouse replacement top the list, but some of the struggles are way more subtle. I know there is a fine line between keeping up with what is new and trying to recreate something long gone, so when you see an old guy like me trying to program his smart phone, don’t assume I want to be a teenager, I’m just having fun.

Well before I make aging sound like the worst thing imaginable let me just say that if happiness continues to increase at the same rate as it has since I was 20, by the time I’m 60 I will explode! Life certainly gets easier with a little more experience under your belt, and while the peaks are sometimes not as great, the valleys are surely not as deep; I’ll take it!

But this morning the down side of aging caught me off guard. I was sitting at a red light, while headed home from the grocery store, when a bright red car pulled alongside me. The driver was a young blonde lady with a dark tan and flashy sunglasses. On a scale of one to bacon, she was…bacon! But when she stopped at the light she never looked my way. She reached for the radio knob and cranked the music loud enough for every car sitting at the light to hear. I couldn’t say exactly what the song was, but I bet the 8 year old in the front seat beside her could. He was smiling and dancing almost as happily as the little one in the car seat behind him. Maybe I would like to back up just a few years?