Age Appropriate

For the last few years I have been on the the threshold of actual old age, of senior citizenship, at least the early stages of it. This is not a particularly pleasant place to be, but it is an interesting one, in its own way. I have occasionally weighed whether or not to chuck all elements of not just youth, but midlife, and pass through the gates into full advanced maturity. I have contemporaries who have done just that. They are often heard saying, "I'm too old for that" when confronted with activities that require even minimal physical strain. Advanced technologies are for "younger people". They will not even consider participation in a casual volleyball game at the company picnic.

It is not all bad. A senior citizen can aspire for a kind of dignified maturity. Their opinions would receive more regard, or at least seem to. They would be allowed to remain seated in a crowded area when others remain standing. Snow shoveling, and other common drudgeries, would be performed by the neighborhood kid. I get it.      

As of the summer of 2015, I will climb a ladder to clear branches off a roof, and I will slid under a car to change the oil. I have been known to stroll over to the local playground to shoot the basketball, and chase the ball at a jog, when need be. I will take on the newest technologies with the only possible barrier being cost and need.

If I may get philosophical... once a man becomes a social patriarch, there's no going back. It's a one-way journey. Everything is temporary, youth, midlife, life itself, so I might as well fight to keep everything intact for as long as possible. It's an interesting part of life, complete with its own struggles, struggles I never would have dreamed existed when I was in those early stages of life.