AT MY AGE

One day last week, I was cleaning my downstairs bathroom and took out the glass cleaner to bring upstairs, leaving it on the steps to bring up at a later time. I must have passed it three or four times at least, never seeing it and never thinking about it! Coming downstairs and seeing the glass cleaner early in the morning I shake my head, TLW (The Little Woman) sees me shake my head.

TLW: What’s he matter?

I pass the glass cleaner on the steps and forget to bring it up with me after leaving it on the steps to remind me.

Oh, I do that all the time!

And so it goes with us senior citizens, and even us old people. It is funny how my life has changed, slowing down because I’m no longer in a hurry. I sometimes wish I had my youth ahead of me instead of behind me. The old adage that youth is wasted on the young is so very true, thank you, George Bernard Shaw!

It also seems that I can just as easily lose patience with some things that never bothered me before. One of them is what I call designer or fad language. It is the inability of people to be original. You hear it all the time, the phase of the day, that overuse of a phase. “It is spot on!” Spot on: what? Can I get it clean? Is it on my shirt again?

Did you ever get set to leave the house, put the key in the ignition of your car and as you pull out, think: “Did I remember to lock the back door? I don’t remember but I must have. I can’t picture it, but I’m sure I did. I better go back and check anyway, even though I’m running late.” I run back into the house, dropping my keys on the table: go to the back door and see it is locked! I leave the house locking the door behind me, go to the car and can’t start it because I don’t have the keys! They are locked in the house!

The weatherman says it is going to rain. I usually water things outside that need it daily and think, I’ll skip the watering today and let the rain take care of it. It gets cloudy, even dark, yet it never rains.

There is some kind of household product you need. You tell yourself you will pick it up next time you go to the supermarket. You plan a meal and need something, so off you go, purchase what you need for the meal, and forget to buy the product!

And so it goes.