Hey! We're OLD!

So I sit here, reflecting upon a facebook war, if one might call it such. Robert started it. He said everyone but him was looking old. Robert, you don’t look as old because you shave your head, ya cheat! Anyway, this isn’t about attacking anyone, at least not in the serious form. This is about us getting older. Having a laugh.

We become painfully aware of it with tragedies. We jokingly are reminded when we see a sports star our own age have his midlife crisis in front of the cameras as he signs his “Hail, Mary” contract. (Dude, take a page from the book of Elway and buy an auto dealership and enjoy life. But one must wonder what Minnesota was thinking. Isn’t this where Steve Young retreated, as well?)

Robert’s comments were not the only reason this has been on my mind of late. Truth be told, we are not old. I can’t be. I don’t shave my head like some, and I don’t invest in “Just For Men” like others, but I have less gray today than I did at the 10-year reunion, (though seriously, I have no idea who is using. Care to confess? About using JFM?)

Last month, we had our nieces from Albq visiting us for a few weeks. IT’s always a blast having them here with us. Well maybe not this time. My Candice said, “Uncle Steve, you’re old!” Thanks, Lil Princess. Why do I call you my “favorite niece” again?!

That’s not it alone. There is more. There is a Shell Food Mart where I enjoy the best tap Dr. Pepper around. Everyone there knows me. Everyone there really doesn’t know me, I learned. One of the girls working there said, “I have been meaning to ask you: those boys that occasionally come in with you, are they your grandchildren?”

OUCH!! THAT HURT! OUCH!! Still smarting over that. I went back to talk with one of the few there that I have known going on years. “Actually, we all thought that they were your grandsons.” Did I say, “OUCH!”?

So then we go off to a store in Flagstaff. Winslow is limited on where one goes to buy clothes for my SONS. Walmart. Fantastic selection of girls’ clothing. (Yeah we lack the selection for boys.) So back to the store in Flagstaff. We had someone at the register ringing up our purchase.  He looked like he was 50-ish. “Sir, I must compliment you on your well-behaved grandsons.”  Say it with me: “OUCH!”

Being a preacher, I usually can’t keep my mouth shut. I thought I would share these events with my congregation. Since the mean age of the congregation is 60, AFTER we include my family’s ages, I thought I would be told, “Preacher, you don’t look old.” (Hey, I wanted some ego boosting.)

“Gramps! That is too funny!” Hey! Again, my favorite chorus of this note: (Say it with me.) OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! Seeing this 80 year old lady calling ME: “Gramps”. OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!

I thought I would get sympathy from my dad since he called to let me know he misses his grandchildren who do not live in Yuma. Nope! Not gonna happen. HE had a hoot. We got to talking about the whole event.

Until my friend Kevin moved to 26^th Place, my dad was the oldest dad around. Seriously, he was. I didn’t want to be a senior citizen at my boys’ graduations. I got married earlier. But we could not have children until… Well, I am going to be a senior citizen at my kids’ graduations. Oh well.

The point of these funnies, you must ask? Aging. I really don’t feel old. I don’t see much differences from the pictures of the 20 year reunion from what I saw at the 10 year reunion. I even still remember Uncle Gene’s Black 40 party. HE still looks the same.

Oh yeah, back on aging. I remember when I was younger. I was in college. I wondered why people made a big deal about aging. I thought, “just embrace it, move on.” Now I am there, seeing myself, forcing myself to embrace the fact that I may not be as young as I used to be. (Though I can still walk a 15 minute mile and run it in 7. And I am now 7” taller than I was at high school graduation.)

One might say, “Steven, you are failing to make your point.” Yeah, I know. I am having fun rambling. I used to ramble too much on Sunday morning, so I have to have an outlet for it, so here we are. What was I saying?

Oh yeah, aging. I am… Well I did have a point that I was in the process of making in the long drive of it all. But I got lost. Sorry about that. Enjoy this time & thanks for reading! Gramps Steve