Old! Who is old?

Inspiration

By Charles Towne

Recently a young fellow made a snide remark about me being old. In my own defense, I am not old. You, if you are like me, are like fine wine and cheese, just well cured.

To be completely candid we all are showing some signs of aging but that just proves that we are still alive. As an example consider the hair growing out of your ears. When we were young we didn’t have hair growing out of our ears, at least not so you’d notice. And your nose!

What is this Lord, some sort of cosmic joke? My barber refuses to trim my nose hair so I have to do the deed myself. Yeah, ear hair and nose hair but no head hair.

These little things are supposed to be signs of aging, but I say fiddle-faddle! They aren’t signs, they’re billboards! (I bet you thought that only old guys said things like fiddle-faddle.) And I am not going to mention leaking and dribbling. (And if you don’t know what I am talking about when I say leaking and dribbling then you’re still young so you can forget it, but you would be wise to invest in adult diapers.)

Your memory is still plenty sharp.

Do you have a bucket list? I have a bucket list but I forgot where I put it. Young people don’t have bucket lists, they have dreams. I don’t have dreams anymore, I wake up too often at night to pee to have dreams. And naps, I really appreciate naps nowadays. My primary form of exercise is a good nap. And I bet you didn’t know that bald doesn’t mean a lack of hair. Nope, bald is an old English word meaning white. And now you know the truth.

Granny, with her full head of white hair, is bald, but you probably don’t want to tell her that ‘cause the old bitty is apt to whup up on you. Your ears are fine. Me, I can’t hear anything, which is O.K. considering the assault on one’s senses that some folks call music these days. And my sight is excellent what with cataracts and macular degeneration, except for the fact that the hippo that almost ran over me turned out to be one of them ugly little half-breed so-called smart cars what look sort of goofy to me.

I am happy to report that my memory is just fine except for the fact that I forget what it was I was going to write next? Oh well, it will come to me, or maybe not. I bet you didn’t know that your brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells or neurons, and the neurons branch out and connect at about one trillion points. That’s pretty darned miraculous to my way of thinking. And our neurons, (cute little things them neurons,) they communicate with each other through little connecting points called synapses.

Now I told you that to tell you this, most of my synapses are still synapsing and I bet yours are too ‘cause that is the way our God designed us! neat huh? I ran across this dude’s website the other day. He is in his late forties or early fifties but due to a crappy attitude, he is about 120. He claims to be “blue and lonesome” which is understandable when he ridicules folks that believe in God. Now that is sad, very sad. When I discovered that Papa God is a genuine friend I stopped being blue and lonesome and at 83 folks are wondering what I’m up to ‘cause I walk around with this goofy grin on my face.

Yep, knowing God brings me a joy, peace and contentment and genuine happiness that for most of my life alluded me. And yes, I care about other people, you too Mr. Sad and Lonely. I pray that same joy, peace, and contentment on each of you today, and happiness, lots of happiness. Oh yeah, smile, and laugh a lot “cause I think there is going to be a lot of smiles and laughter in heaven.

Charles Towne is first and foremost a Christian. An octogenarian, author, journalist, wildlife photographer, naturalist, caregiver, and survivor, his life has been and continues to be, a never-ending adventure filled with possibilities never imagined. He has adopted the philosophy that to Live fully, laugh uproariously, love passionately, and learn like there is no tomorrow, is a formula for a long and joy-filled life.