Reflection in mirror: Attitude defies age
It made my day. Getting older is something as inevitable as …well… getting older. There’s nothing we can do to halt the passage of time.
Some age better than others. Some age worse than others. Some look their age, feel their age, act their age, don’t act their age, etc.
So when that one certain day comes around annually, all of a sudden we find ourselves a year older.
I have passed the half-century mark. While I don’t feel 50-plus, I look it. Especially in a full-length mirror, something I try to avoid stepping in front of at all costs. Why? Because what I see looking back is not what I see in my mind’s eye.
Which is a shame because I look a whole lot better in that image than I do in “real time,’ to borrow one of the more euphemistic computer phrases of the day.
But every now and again we score a little victory, get a lift, are encouraged and so forth by what someone else says to us in regards to how we appear.
For example, my lovely wife and I recently discovered that by living within the city limits, we can withdraw books from the library at no charge (as long as we return them within the specified time limit). We are not great television watchers but we are readers. Making this discovery has exposed us to a vast array of tomes that interest us: topics such as history, mystery, pets and others grace the shelves and a few handfuls at a time accompany us home.
On one recent trip to the library, I went to a computer to check on a certain title. The computers are near the copying machine. An older man was standing there, making some copies. As I started to walk past he stopped me.
“Hey, young fellow, do you have a nickel for five pennies?’ he said.
I knew I did. I quickly reached into my pocket, smiled, pulled out a few coins, segregated them and handed him a 5-cent piece.
“Keep your pennies,’ I said. “It’s worth a nickel to me to be called ‘young fellow.”
No one has called me that in…well…in many years.
I suppose I am younger than he is. Maybe he’s old enough to be my father, chronologically speaking.
But truth is I still think of myself as a young fellow. I don’t feel much older than when I was in my early 20s. Oh, sure, the aches and pains have increased in proportion to my girth. It surprises me at times that I can’t do some of the physical things I once could. I try and fail. And, I wonder to myself, “Why is that? I’m not that old yet? Am I?’
Of course the question is what do I see when I am confronted with a real, live 20something? Do I see a contemporary or do I see a kid?
My recollection is still good and I have 30-plus years more in memories than the 20something does, so I see someone who lacks my experience and experiences. In my self-impression, however, I don’t think I’m looking at something much different than how I view myself.
I have a few things going for me in this regard.
My aunt once asked me “Why don’t you have any gray hair?’ I do. It just isn’t very noticeable unless I have just gotten a haircut or I’m standing in sunshine.
My skin is still fairly smooth. I mean, I have few wrinkles. But being fat might account for the fact that my skin is stretched too tight for many wrinkles to form.
So, when confronted by a 20something, I just see another kid…like me.
Don’t you?
Have a good day.
Jim Pletcher is the Herald-Standard’s business editor. E-mail: jpletcher@heraldstandard.com