Opinion : Being a Senior Citizen from the mid 1900's

It's finally happened. I'm old.

I had shut the CD off in the car. The player holds 6, but some idiot wasn't that hip on how to change the disks, so while driving, she ejected a disk and pushed another one into the player. She forgot that there is an "eject" as well as a "load" button. It was the state of the art design for my 2002 Lexus. I now had 2 disks in the same slot. I asked the mechanic (who loves working on my Lexus, they need a sarcasm font) if he could fix it. If I wanted to drop a few hundred bucks on ripping the whole dash apart, he could do anything he told me. I decided that I would google how to fix it myself, not that I don't trust the mechanic, I just figure the money looked better in my bank account than his.

Armed with packing tape and a popsicle stick, I removed the offending CD. But then the player made a funny sound for a while after that, so I'm only risking one priceless CD in the player at a time. I have yet to find a music station that I love and haven't figured out the new fangled way of saving music to listen to later n my phone or any other gadget, man I miss mixed cassettes.

Anyway, long story even longer, I turned off the disk, because I was getting bored with it. I must leave it in the car, however, because the baby associates southern gospel music with the probability of getting to see her mom. Crying ceases as soon as she hears the music, so hey, that CD is staying put. (I know, I know I COULD pop in more CDs for when the baby ISN'T in the car, but then I'd have to remember to bring them out to the car, in a former life I had it more together).

Sooooo, I'm driving down the highway listening to my talk shows. This guy gets on the air and said something about how he and his wife had started a business in the late 1900s. Now I couldn't tell you anything about the conversation after that, I was stuck on the term "the late 1900s." I wondered what in the world he was talking about. I mean it's only...2000ish, so I guess "the late 1900s" would be accurate. I remember as a kid looking at a gravestone from the "late 1800s" and thinking, "That was a long time ago!" Not having heard the term "the late 1900s" before, it really did throw me for a loop.

So I'm officially old.

It took about 10 miles down the road for me to move onto another topic of thought, probably brought on by the talk show.

Because I hate to cook, and lunch was 8 hours earlier, I pulled into the drive-thru to order a cherry turnover from Arbys. I have no idea why, but I'm craving cherry anything lately. I order and know what my total should be but it was less. So I then pondered what I was getting instead of what I ordered. (hey I'll get to that next if I remember, you know age)

The joke was on me. I paid the bill and got the receipt in return. "Senior Discount" it read. I laughed. Crud, even with the new hair dye he knows I'm old. I laughed again just as the turnover came out the window, I'm sure he now thinks I have a case of dementia, the radio is off, and this "old lady" is sitting in her car laughing.

Since gas is cheap and I had to drive across to another part of town, I stopped at Chick-fil-A to order some of their lemonade, because it's the best. I pulled up and they ask for your name. "Valerie I said." "Mallory?" was the response. "No, Valerie," I replied. "Okay Dolly, how can I help you?" Really it's not a big deal, I'm usually Mallory when I go there, so I figured why not Dolly, just go with it. Since I'm from the mid 1900's I'm used to the fact that drive up speakers have never been that accurate.

I didn't care, I had my lemonade.

Continuing on to my destination I pondered doing a "ding dong ditch." I locate the apartment building that I was searching for in the dark. and handed off my delivery, with an extended arm not wanting to get too close to another human. Careful not to touch anything, and returning to my car, my heart was warmed as I saw the effects of the Governor saying, stay home. As I drove out of the apartment complex where the lot is usually empty, to find all the lots full of cars was heartwarming. I would guess there are several hundred living in that complex.

I get back in my car and ponder my lemonade and turnover. I know we're trusting the people at the drive up not to be sick. Thinking back to Typhoid Mary, I suppose those born in the early 2000s might not have heard about her, but that is the way we are living now.

So anyway, for a gal born in the mid 1900s, I felt pretty proud of myself, for switching out three hats in one day, all different jobs that I do, while avoiding the general population and talking to Siri more than any real humans yesterday I returned home to work, putting on the hat that I start and end with most days.

To be honest, I'm kind of enjoying watching all the people at home. Houses have lights on at night, where normally they are dark until everyone is home from school activities and work. We are getting in our much-needed family time. At the end of all of this, I hope that families will feel closer to each other. It is a step back in time, to a much slower era. To a time where our priority was being with our family.

COVID-19 is bad. Avoid it. Use your head. At the same time, don't lose your mind over it.

Enjoy this time at home with the family. Make some memories. You'll find if you do, in about a decade the kids will say, "Remember when we had to all stay home? That was the most fun!" and when they grow up they'll be able to tell their grandkids, and great-grandkids that "Back in the early 2000s..."