The Joys of getting old

It's all coming to back to haunt me as I approach my 67th birthday at the end of the year. I can remember joking about the old men who came out to watch us work. I remember saying "don't they have anything better to do?" We obviously weren't doing anything interesting enough to watch. That all came to a head this morning when I walked down to Palmwood and Sam Houston, just to watch the progress on a small section of road our city crews were working on. It brought back memories of freshly turned over dirt moistened by the morning dew, the smell was refreshing, as I watched the backhoe operator dig up more dirt and put it into the waiting dump trucks. Yes, like the old men who used to come watch us, I had my cup of strong steaming coffee with me. I saw a couple of young men looking my way, I wonder if they were talking about an old man watching them work?

I remember my brother and sisters used to laugh when we went into the living room; the black and white television was snowy and ain't no telling how long my stepdad had been asleep. I'm starting to do a little of that; last night I can't tell you what went on between the hours of 8:30 PM to 10:00 PM when I finally went up to bed. My stepdad had an excuse because when he was my age, he was still working pretty hard. I guess instead of counting sheep, I see visions of Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum over and over in my head, until I just naturally drift off.

There were posters saying that old people should get tested on a regular basis (6 months or so) before their license could be renewed. One old timer was annoyed but I remember taking the keys away from a stepfather when he turned 85 years old because he kept getting in accidents and we feared that he would end up hurting someone other than himself. I don't know at what age our driving skills start to deteriorate but my night vision is not what it used to be, so I avoid driving at night if possible. A lot of it is on a case by case basis, making it very difficult to set up an age at which a more frequent testing period should apply.

I don’t have the qualms about getting older because I’m enjoying myself. As I joking told my fellow coworkers “I’ve reached this age; you can’t say that.”