Old thinking

Recently, I had a thought. And that thought turned into the following words, “perhaps we should go out for dinner earlier, you know, before the restaurant gets busy and the service slows.”

Was this is the start of a transition into being old and knowing which restaurants do the best ‘early-bird specials’? Quickly followed by only buying shoes with velcro closures instead of laces? And then searching out the store that sells ‘old man pants.’ You know the kind of beige or brown pants that have a 20-inch fly zipper and a waistband that starts nipple high? No one is born thinking any of those things are righteous!

I can trace my path to thinking like this back when I commuted to work by train. For the first year or two, I thought it sad that some people had ‘their’ spot on the station platform. Every single morning they stood in the exact same place. Not me.

I made a conscious effort to spread myself all over the platform. Some days at the far end. Other days in the middle next to the entrance. And even to the platform end where the train didn’t quite reach, and I had to walk back to get aboard.

I tried hard to be random, but humans are not good at random behavior, as I discovered. We are programmed to fall into patterns of behavior. It saves time and energy if you don’t have to think.
So, like most other people, I gravitated toward standing in the same spot. I mean, it was the best spot for guaranteeing I got a seat on the train. What’s wrong with that?

And that was it. I’d begun my slide towards thinking like an oldie. And the probability I end up buying shoes (white) with velcro closures.