Friday, July 19, 2013

It's Coming

Well tomorrow is my birthday. Sixty has been trying to sneak up on me, but it ain't happening. No sir, I've seen this one comin'. Fact is I've been paying attention all this last year. Fifty nine doesn't sound too bad, but sixty does have a different ring to it. In some ways I'm thinking it sounds a little better. I think of it this way, a two digit number with a nine at the end is almost something else. Tomorrow I will be that something. In this case, sixty, A lot better than fifty nine. I like to keep things even. Also in the next few years that second digit stays low, I won't get nervous until it reached seven or eight.
My wife tells me sixty is the new forty. Oh lord, I hope not. I remember turning forty and it didn't sit well with me. I had a bit of a minor crisis. I didn't go over the edge, but I was looking down. I don't want that experience again. I think I'll be fine with sixty. I'm thinking I'm just starting to hit my stride. Yeah, that's it, I've been saving myself for the golden years. This is the time when I can bring all my experience and knowledge to bear. I only need to figure out what it is I want to bear against ! Well, one thing I have learned is patience. I'll just wait and see.
Sixty isn't senior. I refuse to accept that hype. AARP has been after me since I was fifty. I'm not retired, just tired. Occasionally I do receive a senior discount. I will accept that only to avoid confrontation. I wouldn't want to offend anyone generously offering a discount. If it makes them feel better about themselves, it is alright with me. I'm not a proud or vain man, no sir, I'll just smile and take it. Sixty is a new beginning. The first year of the decade. I have a lot to look forward to. Social Security for instance. Will it still exist when I'm old enough for that ? Anticipation is fun, like waiting for your birthday gift. Plus, I still have to say, when I'm old enough. If the television ads are to be believed this is the year I start living. All the worries of the work a day world melt away at about age sixty five or so. Soon I'll be riding a cruiser bicycle with the grandchildren on an old country lane. Picnics in the park and wearing a cardigan sweater every day. Now that's living.
Sixty is definitely not sneaking up on me. I thought about that when I looked at my feet. I'm wearing sneakers. I know the kids nowadays call them athletic shoes or some such thing but they will always be sneakers to me. Sneakers have been around a lot longer than me too. In fact since 1917. When I was a kid not many people sixty years old wore sneakers. Mr. Rogers did, but only indoors. I always wondered about that. Of course he really wasn't sixty then and was a bit of an odd duck,as the saying goes. Today people of all ages wear sneakers. Another lesson learned. Wear comfortable shoes. I still have laces in mine and wonder when I will have to make the switch. Yes, one day I'll have to go with the velcro closures ! But not yet, I'm only sixty you know.

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