How Old ? . . .

Just a couple of days back a friend posted on Facebook that he had been thinking he was 37 . . . about to have his 38th birthday, but then discovered that he was, in fact, 36 about to turn 37. He wrote about how refreshing it was to discover that he was actually a year younger than he had believed. I chuckled at his post, but was surprised at the comments with which people responded. It seems that this is a fairly common failing . . . or perhaps, experience.

I have never been confused on the issue of my age, my date of birth, the number of years married or my anniversary date, Sandy’s age or date of birth, or that info about my children. In fact, I was one of eight kids in my family and to this date I can name the birthdate and year of birth for each of my siblings.

Something pretty comical about this topic did occur with Sandy and me in our earlier years. Shortly after we married, Sandy became confused about the age of her Dad . . . exactly how old he was. I recall she said, “He is just 42.” It became puzzling to me that I managed to get older each year, but he actually got younger. We started off twenty years apart, but I almost caught up with him as we added a year to my age each year and Sandy subtracted a year from her Dad. She claimed that she had over-stated his age initially and was simply making the necessary adjustments over time. That was all well and good until he was just a few years older than I was. I finally called him and asked his age and explained the reason. He got quite a chuckle over it and it became a joke between us for the remainder of his short life.

The aging process does funny things with the human brain . . . and memory. Keep your driver’s license handy . . . it contains pertinent information about you, and includes a color photo of you. All helpful information.

I recall the story about the President arriving in town a bit early for an appearance at a local event. As his driver drove the limo down the street, the Prez saw a nursing home and said, “Hey, we have some extra time so let’s circle back around and go in that home and say Howdy to the folks.” As they pulled up in front of the home and the Prez exited the limo, he saw an old fellow in a wheelchair. He approached the old dude with a big grin and asked, “Do you know who I am?” The guy looked the Prez over pretty good and finally shook his head no . . . but then the old man said, “Check with them at the front desk, they are usually pretty good with that sort of thing!”

 

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