You know, each morning when I look at myself in the
mirror…
You
know, each morning when I look at myself in the mirror, I see
the same old face that I’ve been living with for these past 64
years. Now, I must admit that the old body has been reshaped and
I no longer have that svelte 28 inch waist, but then again who
cares?
Aside from a few minor aches and pains, I feel about as good as
I did forty years ago. Of course, I can’t run as fast or do as
much heavy lifting, but then again so what?
What does bother me is the fact that I’ve started noticing that
more and more younger people have started calling me ‘sir’ and
trying to help me out from time to time.
Take this morning for instance; I went to get my eyes examined
as I do every year or so. The young lady performing the exam was
nice and courteous, no problem. However when I went to sit in
the chair, she grabbed me by the arm and advised….”Be careful,
there is a step up here”.
My eyes are very good and I saw the step before she pointed it
out to me. I guess my thought was, did I look that old and
feeble to her that she assumed I needed some help getting into
the examination chair? What was it that made her make this
comment, or did she always say something like this to folks my
age? Maybe she was just trying to be helpful.
I am beginning to get suspicious.
Yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some
things. Little things, like bread, cokes, some cheese, light
stuff…not heavy. Couldn’t have weighed over ten pounds, if that
much. The young man sacking the stuff, asks me…..”Sir, do you
need help carrying that out to your car?” Now, I’m asking myself
…was he looking for a bigger tip or did he really think I
couldn’t make it out to my car by myself?
Getting older isn’t so bad…as long as you keep on doing it. As
time goes by, things, especially our bodies change. Look at Dick
Clark and George Hamilton. They’ve changed as well. I don’t feel
any different, I just wonder if I look any different.
I quit going to my high school reunions a long time ago. All of
those people looked a lot older than me and I didn’t want to
hurt anyone’s feelings by asking something stupid like…” what
the devil happened to you?”
I was with my best friend several years ago when we ran into an
old boy who had been the most popular and best looking in our
high school class. He looked like he had been rode hard and put
away wet. I mean he looked really bad. Like someone said, he had
a face that looked like it had caught on fire and someone put it
out with a rake. I didn’t comment and just shook hands with him
and inquired about his life. My friend wasn’t as gracious and
just kept saying things like…”This can’t be you… what happened
to you…you look bad.” It wasn’t one of my best moments.
I felt sorry for the guy and we left shortly afterwards. My best
friend still doesn’t believe that this was the guy we knew in
high school.
All of us will undergo a change, as we grow older. I suppose it
should come as no surprise to me that what I see in the mirror
each day might not be the same as what others see when they look
at me.
The positive side of this is that I’m still out here plugging
away at it every day. I shouldn’t take offense when someone is
trying to help. I really should just grin and bear it and be
thankful that I’m still motivating on my own steam without
needing anyone else’s help.
For the time being anyway.
