I waited on a table the other day of six Blue Hairs, all decked out in their Christmas sweaters, earrings bracelets and socks. They were so sweet but it started me thinking..."This will be ME in twenty years." (if I live that long)
I went to take their drink order when the one on the outside of the booth was dabbing at her nose with a Kleenex . I asked what she wanted to drink and she promptly pulled out her blouse and tucked the tissue into her bra and not batting an eye said "I'll just have water." For Pete's sake! It wasn't an embroidered linen handkerchief from her great grandmother, it was a piece of tissue... (fancy toilet paper) but she was saving it for future use.
People in their eighties remember what it's like to be poor and most probably are freaked out over gas being sometimes almost four dollars a gallon and monthly electric bills that would once have heated their house for the entire year . People in their eighties know how to stretch a dime and obviously a Kleenex too. People in their eighties are ME in less than thirty years...YIKES!
I like waiting on older folks. You bring bread to their table and they all clasp their hands together in joy as if you sat down a plate of caviar. Most all servers I work with are in their twenties, so when I wait on seniors and chat with them I remember things that they do...rotary dial phones, even the ones you hand cranked. My mom had one hanging on our kitchen wall. Ours didn't work but the bell still did. I remember black and white TV, rabbit ears and "Charles Chips." I remember the Cuban Missile crisis , Truth or Consequences, The Lawrence Welk Show and Art Linkletter.
JEEZ...I AM old!
How did it happen? I don't stuff Kleenex into my bra (although I did in high school) but I AM guilty of sometimes squeezing my legs together when I sneeze real hard. I still weigh what I did in high school and it suddenly seems that is about all I have left of my youth.
I know it could be worse but I sure wish I could roll the clock back JUST a bit. My twenties I don't really remember much (oops), my thirties were great and my forties were outstanding.
Now I sit at the top of the last slide of life. I don't want to go down but I have to. Age is behind me shoving from the back. I can hear them laughing "She can't even read a book without glasses, just give her a push... she won't see where she's going."
I had kids late in life so now I am faced with growing old and still having to stay somewhat young so I don't look like a complete idiot to my two remaining teens and their friend's that feel my house is a food/ drink/ video/ cyber magnet.
I like having teens here, I really do. If they weren't all hanging at my house I would just wonder where they were... worry more and increase my wrinkles/gray hair intake.
My doctor (the one on General Hospital) says to keep stress levels down so I just let them all hang here and have learned quite a bit from them along the way.
It took me a while to learn how to use "Word" on my cell phone and even longer to learn all the text acronyms. I am now FYI, SMHS at WTH is going on with not only society but the world in general. We seem to need help ASAP and realize WWJD?
I'm hanging in there, I'm coming off a two year run of bad luck but by the grace of God and the love of family and friends will make a while longer.
I am thinking about a book of acronyms for us ole farts. I Like HFM "Hot Flash Momma" or BIKM "Back Is Killing Me." How about SCP911 "Sharp Chest Pains 911" I think the best would be MCBRTY..."Merry Christmas Blog Readers Thank You."
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Til tomorrow...COTTON
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