Shrinking-Ego Attack

When I boarded a small shuttle bus at a long term parking lot of Douglas International, at Charlotte, NC to catch my fly to Las Vegas, an old man [I thought] stood up immediately and asked me to sit down on his seat. I was very thankful for his courtesy but, on the other hand, I was surprised. It rarely happened to me – I think I can manage myself all the time. I thought I wasn’t that old that this “old” gentleman needed not to yield his seat for me. Not only that, there was a lady sitting right across the aisle there and she helped me very hard to put my small luggage on the rack.

On the way back at Fort Worth International, Dallas, Texas, when I boarded one of the sky link light rail cars, there was an old lady doing exactly the same thing. I thought it wasn’t coincident. This time, I just carried a small hand bag without any check-in luggage. Not only that, there was a young man with his wife. He cleared up all his belongings on the adjacent seat to make more room for me, so I could have two seats all by myself. This time, I realized how old am I? At least in their eyes. Nobody offered anything to Mom who was right next to me. I was really surprised and immediately had a “Shrinking-Ego Attack” while everyone was looking at me to get settle down. I did and, after that, I patted that young man on his shoulder and said “I think you are pretty old too and do you like to sit down on this empty seat”. Everyone around me laughed. And I “did” too.

I guessed right now I realized I am old, old and never be able to going back, not a year, a month or even a day. But, to be truthful, I am still young in my heart. There are a lot things that I really like to do 🙂

2 thoughts on “Shrinking-Ego Attack”

  1. We are old indeed. Daddy just does not like to admit it. We are qualified for Medicare in November. I think we have to take it “gracefully”.

  2. Old is relative. My great grandmother died when she was 99 years old. I’m 44 and feel old as the hills sometimes. But I still need to live my entire life and then some to equal what my grandmother lived. My mind is sharp – it is my body that can’t keep up. “Age is truly wasted on the young”.

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