Too Old to Care
It’s one of my favorite short stories. A friend told the story of visiting her mother in the hospital. As she entered the room, she saw her mother lying with her back to the door, the covers tossed to the foot of the bed and the back of her gown open. “Mom”, she said “your gown is open” and her mother replied “I’m too old to care.”
There’s something about the story that gives me a smile, causes me to further enjoy aging and gives me a stronger determination not to care.
I was raised to care and to ask the question “what will people think?” One of my sisters, who is two years younger than I am, has been hospitalized twice do to stress. Being a male, I seemed to have more natural immunity and didn’t learn the lesson as well as she did. The older I get, the more I “un-learn” the lesson. With each passing year, I care less and less.
While in the Army, I saw a full page cartoon in a Playboy magazine that depicted a scantily clad female. The caption read “I don’t drink and I don’t smoke. Two out of three isn’t bad.” It still brings a smile to my face.
There’s me, my wife and other people. Rather than ask “what will people think” I prefer to ask “what do I think and what will Julie think.” Two out of three isn’t bad.
Anyway, Julie keeps me balanced. Over the weekend she “asked” me to throw out two of my favorite shirts. As we discussed the faded and frayed shirts, she did offer to let me wear them in my work building – where no one would see them.
Perhaps, this is why the Bible says “It is not good that man should be alone”.
There’s something about the story that gives me a smile, causes me to further enjoy aging and gives me a stronger determination not to care.
I was raised to care and to ask the question “what will people think?” One of my sisters, who is two years younger than I am, has been hospitalized twice do to stress. Being a male, I seemed to have more natural immunity and didn’t learn the lesson as well as she did. The older I get, the more I “un-learn” the lesson. With each passing year, I care less and less.
While in the Army, I saw a full page cartoon in a Playboy magazine that depicted a scantily clad female. The caption read “I don’t drink and I don’t smoke. Two out of three isn’t bad.” It still brings a smile to my face.
There’s me, my wife and other people. Rather than ask “what will people think” I prefer to ask “what do I think and what will Julie think.” Two out of three isn’t bad.
Anyway, Julie keeps me balanced. Over the weekend she “asked” me to throw out two of my favorite shirts. As we discussed the faded and frayed shirts, she did offer to let me wear them in my work building – where no one would see them.
Perhaps, this is why the Bible says “It is not good that man should be alone”.
posted by Paul at 7:48 AM
3 Comments:
Caring less about what others think seems to me to be one of the unexpected bonuses of getting old.
The perks of aging: No longer a slave to fashion. Having a sense of what REAL problems are. Not getting what you want and knowing the world will not end as a result. Not having the energy to do stupid things.
The perks of marriage: Being of value to at least one person. Knowing someone will tell you things others fear to, for various reasons. Knowing you're no longer mate material and not caring because you got yours before the decline.
Too old to care--I've always loved that!! People finally getting to be themselves; sometimes for the first time in their lives; all due to aging. It's ashame we can't have this attitude throughout our lives. It's ashame I've spent so much time worrying about what others think instead of living my life the way I wanted.
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