Old Timers

Old Timers

            According to ‘Old Timer’s’ you are not an ‘Old Timer’ unless you are their age.  That also means that you do not have bragging rights until you are that magical age.  That age is when you have earned the badge of life the hard way.

            Now this is all relative.  Those that are close to a hundred will say those that are eighty are babies.  Those that are eighty will say the babies are in their fifties. I am fast approaching fifty and think all those under me are kids and babies.  One thing I hear all these groups add is to be careful not to hang with old folks; those that are old in spirit.  The best advice that has been given by all those older than me is to remain young in spirit.

            A lady I was checking out, at my job when I was sixteen, set me straight once.  I told her, “Don’t you think you ought to slow down.”  She had just gotten back from Europe and was going golfing.

            “Honey dear, if I slow down. I just might find something wrong.” replied a spry white haired lady in her late seventies dressed ready to golf.

            That has always made me stop and think.  Now when I feel sad as I approach fifty, I think of her and Lyle.

            Lyle came into the pharmacy and said, “Hurry Sandy! I have to go to work. I mow yards. I work for an old man.”

            I had to ask how old the man was.  Lyle was in his late eighties.  As it turned out the old man was in his late nineties.  So, according to the ‘Old timers’ we are not old unless we are their age, have lived through and shared the ‘Old timer’s’ hardships.