“Old people….”

Hey, we’ll all be old one day.  We’ll demand the world reacts to our beck and call.  We’ll look for the senior citizen discounts.  We may hit the gas instead of the brake.  We may forget stuff.  We’ll hopefully start winning our age groups in races.  These generalizations are not true of all elderly people of course, but I think our elderly family and friends sometimes get a bad wrap.  Today, while shopping at TJMaxx, I got a great shot in the arm thanks to a trio of elderly men.  Allow me to set the stage:

I approached the store and noticed the 3 elderly men (EM for short) hanging around their car, smoking, and yuckin’ it up while waiting for the store to open.  I was already amused.  I headed to the women’s clothing and they headed to the men’s.  Eventually, I ended up in the men’s department to buy Scott a few things.  Here’s a snippet of their loud conversation:

EM #1:         What, you don’t like the shirt?

EM #2:         Yeah, I like it OK…on someone else.

EM #3:         It’s OK, but it’s got all that bullshit on it.

To the response of EM #3, I couldn’t suppress a smile.  A girl working there also heard their conversation and smiled; our eyes met.  We both quietly cracked up.  Next exchange:

EM #1:         So you gonna get it?

EM #2:         Yeah, it’s Izod

EM #1:         Well, you gotta try it on (in a very insistent “mom-like” manner)

Finally, as I stood in line to check out, EM #2 was in the process of paying for his purchases.  EM #3 was standing in front of me in line.  Once EM #2 finished, he waved his friend EM #3 over, loudly yelling and motioning –

EM #2:         Hey, this register’s open now!

EM #3:         [turned to me and, with a smirk/shaking head] Old people….

I laughed my ass off.

As I left the store, the 3 men had again congregated by their car, now with their bags from TJMaxx.  Smoking, laughing, and probably comparing purchases, I found the whole situation so endearing that I had to steal a picture of them.  They reminded me so much of Scott’s dad with their bantering, smoking, swearing, and smart ass comments, that I felt like I got a visit from him through these strangers.

I love to see elderly people independently doing their thing, laughing, and most of all, not acting elderly.  We can’t stop time folks, but we can sure learn from those paving the way ahead of us.  That’s what I want to be like when I become “Old people…”