Everything Okay?

 

It's an odd feeling hitting seventy years of age. I still think the same. I am still the same person I was ten years ago. In fact, sometimes I feel like I should give my seat up or open the door for somebody who I perceive as older. More often than not, if I look closely, I am much older. Damn, seventy two years is creeping up on me soon and I am not enjoying it. Sure the pain in my knees, my back, my shoulder, my feet, are a clue that the body was built in 1949. That's not what is bugging me. It's how people are starting to treat me. Like an old man. Calling me 'sir', and assuming I probably vote 'conservative'.

I bowl on a league on Friday evenings. I enjoy it even though my average has fallen quite a bit. At least it gets me out and allows me to mingle with other humans. I'm not sure, but I suspect that I might be the oldest person on that league. Either that or the other old farts really look good for their age. Hard to tell with all those covid masks on. The young guy on our team is really a nice kid. He always asks me, "How are you feeling?" The other guys treat me well too. They don't make too much fun of me when I throw a gutter ball. However, something happened last Friday that did bother me. I was watching the guys from the opposing team bowl from a seat right behind the lane. I had to lean out to see around the person in front of me, and the more I leaned, the more he leaned. So there I was leaning forward in my seat while the other team bowled, probably for a minute or so. Suddenly I hear, "Alan, are you okay?" I look up and there are three of my teammates standing there with concerned looks on their faces, looking down at me. That's when I realized that they thought I might be having some kind of episode. You know, where I lean forward and then fall to the ground dead.

"I'm fine. I'm watching them bowl. For krissakes, what the hell?"

So I've learned another thing about getting old. You have to keep moving, or else folks will think you've bought the farm.