I've never really considered myself old. I may have considered myself older than other people, but even though I joke about it, I never really felt old. That is, until this past weekend. There were a few things that just made me realize that I am getting older.
My church young single adult group went down to a little pageant this past weekend for an overnight get away. It was a fairly long drive (about 3 hours) and it was decided that it would probably be best to get some carpools together. On all the church or scouting activities I've ever been on, the older folk usually end up being the drivers. Well, I ended up driving on this trip (driving a carpool car on road trip for youth/ysa group = old).
On the way down, we had to stop and get gas. So we pulled off the freeway, found ourselves a Chevron, and put some gas in the truck. After I had filled up the truck, I was about to get in the car when it dawned on me that we still had about another 2 hours left to drive. I didn't have to pee, but we were at a gas station, and said gas station had a bathroom. So I decided that I was going to go even though I had no natural urge telling me to relieve myself. I just figured that I might as well because I might not get another chance (for a brief 2 hours... I seriously can't hold it that long?). So I went, and I told the others in my car that they should follow suit. (Doing a plan-ahead-bathroom trip = old. Telling others to do the same = old. Being worried about having an bladder related issue even though you don't have to go and the trip will only be another two hours = old).... This happened multiple times during the trip.
Once we finally got down to the city with the Pageant, my little car group got some food. While we were eating we had a very lovely conversation. One of my carpool members finished a bit before the rest of the group and got up and started moving around a bit. At one point, she came up behind me and was probably lost in her thoughts about how awesome my hair is, when she exclaimed that she had made a discovery. She had found a gray hair and everyone in earshot also knew at this point that I have gray hairs. (Having more than one (yes, I have multiple) gray hairs = old).
The pageant ran pretty late (it didn't get over until about 11 or so) we all headed back to our campground. Once we got there we made sure that everyone had a place to sleep and then we chatted it up for a bit. Eventually everyone got into their own little groups and went their own way. The group I ended up with was playing card games outside in a little circle. Sometime around midnight I announced to the group that I was heading to bed and got up to leave. They eventually talked me out of it and convinced me into staying for a bit longer (considering going to bed before dawn on a camping trip = old).
So while we were out playing cards until the late hour of 1 am, the little card playing group discovered that I had a giant bag of Starbursts hidden away. I told them that I wouldn't mind sharing my Starbursts as long as they took care of their wrappers (telling people to clean up after themselves = old). I had just brushed my teeth and so I didn't even end up eating any of them (brushing my teeth while camping out = old. not eating candy just because I had brushed my teeth earlier = old).
The next morning we headed back home. After my bathroom-before-we-go-break (..... old), we got all loaded up and took off back home. On the way home multiple people passed me on the little two lane highway (getting passed multiple times = old). Once we got back on the freeway (and maybe a few times before and the day before) I changed lanes a few times. And multiple times, a mile or two after I had made said lane change, I would discover that my blinker was still on (forgetting to turn blinker off = old).
There have been a lot of things that make me realize that I am getting older (no eating late at night, wanting to go to bed earlier and earlier, bad back, etc), but these were all condensed into one weekend and it just seemed to be a bit more in my face. And I would probably be convinced that I am old, if it weren't for the fact that I laugh every time I hear some one use the word "do" twice in a row in a sentence.
