Old Thinking

My buddy Bob, who is the same age as I, recently declared it's official. "We ARE old." To back up his declaration, he described a recent incident that occurred while he was waiting to teach a class at a college down south.

Passing by a restaurant, he observed a notice posted on a restaurant door with the eye-catching headline, "Attention Seniors." Ah ha, he thought. Perhaps they were advertising a hefty senior citizen discount.

So he began reading the fine print, wondering what the cut-off age was and exactly what the discount would be. A few minutes into reading, he realized that the sign wasn't meant for him. It was meant for the seniors at the college next door. Adding to his consternation was the fact that he would be teaching a class of seniors in about an hour.

Yeah, been there myself. And it's becoming a frequent stop too. I recounted in response my own story. Wendy and I were in the express lane at the local grocery store when my wife wondered aloud what the daily special was this particular day.

This grocery store runs a super special each day, half off or better on a popular staple. While Wendy stayed in line, I ran for the sign. Briefly noting that the Monday special was bananas, I raced back to inform Wendy who said to quickly grab some.

Since she was nearing the checkout, I had to hurry but I grabbed a bunch and jogged back, throwing the bananas on the belt just as her turn came. Boo-yeah. But when the cashier rang them up, they rang up at regular price.

"Aren't these on special?" My wife asked.

"That was yesterday," the clerk responded.

What?? Did I mis-read the sign? I thought it was highly unlikely that the store would discount a popular item like bananas on Sunday, a busy weekend shopping day. More likely they would discount something like pineapple or baguettes.

We paid and walked away, but as we passed the sign, I tapped the Monday special with a look that told Wendy that I was right--it was the cashier who screwed up.

"It's Tuesday," Wendy said.

Oh. Oh, well. Chalk it up to age, like my buddy Bob says.

I'm posting a couple Christmas pictures to close. Wendy is responsible for the indoor decorations at our bay window, I set up the faux Christmas tree in the backyard. By the way, the yard is not tilted like that. Whatever I rested the camera on to take the picture was obviously not as level as I thought.