Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. My wife tells me this too. It's sort of an unspoken agreement that we have - when we see people we have not seen in a while and they look particularly haggard or aged - one of us will ask the other, "I don't look that bad do I?". And I honestly do not think we are lying when we always answer "No."
*note: if I have run into you after not seeing you for a long period of time, I am most certainly not referring to you here. Honest. It's someone else.
For whatever reason, I'm not sure how a middle aged father of 2 is supposed to feel, so I keep thinking I'm just an overgrown young adult who still likes cool things and still feels young.
Yet there are times when my actual age is difficult to ignore. Like the days I realize that my feet hurt. Of course, this is most likely the result of running 3 miles the previous day, but when I ran years ago my feet did not hurt the next day.
Or like the times when my students point out my age in alternative and unintentional ways. Take Wednesday night for example: A certain student began telling a funny story involving a concert. When she came to the part that included a scene in the "mosh pit", she paused and then said to me, "Wait. Do you know what a mosh pit is?" As if mosh pits were invented in the last couple of weeks. Or, as I took it, I'm so old and out of touch with concert going that I would surely never have witnessed, let alone participated in, a stage-front surge of humans. Dude, I've moshed on several occasions. I laughed at the absurdity of the question.
Then Thursday came and stole my laughter.
I was presented with the very convenient offer to go see Sequoyah Prep School play at a college about 10 minutes from my house. This is a great local-ish band you should look up and then maybe purchase an album from them on iTunes. I really wanted to go. But I have 2 kids and you'd be shocked at just how little time there is in an evening after dinner is served, baths are given, PJ's are put on, and teeth are brushed. So what did I do?
I went to the concert.
OK, not that concert, but we did go to a concert. First we enjoyed a selection by Blue...
And then we made our way downtown for the lead act, Dr. Thomas Moore...
Dr. Moore is a writer and performer of kid themed stories and songs...
He is depicted in cartoon form in the projected image and if any of you illustrator types notice the little inside joke...well, then that would mean you're at least as old as I am. And you used to listen to really bad hip hop music.
Congratulations.
If anyone calls or treats you old give them "the look" you do so well, remind them of your age, or that you had the same professors(that always shuts 'em up!), or simply smile and tell them to shove it. Students sometimes forget professors are humans too... Plus maturity and old age are not the same. Parenting is a sacrifice, but one that will bring you infinite moments of laughter, joy, happiness, and pride.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess to sum it up, the best thing to do when met with stupidity is to roll your eyes, chuckle, and throw back some of that quick Doug wit and sarcasm.