Some Days....

...you just feel old. Today the Old Fart feels that way. Some stuff occurring, I suppose, assists this sinking feeling of the need to check into an assisted care facility.

One of my brothers celebrated (if you can call it that) his birthday yesterday. He is the oldest of the three of us. He turned (gasp) 77. My other brother will, later this year, turn 73. I am the "baby" of the family. My next birthday, I will ONLY be 63. How the years passed so quickly - to the point that my brothers have become elderly, and I am only a few steps behind them, is a mystery. It doesn't seem that long ago when, living at Mom & dad's house, my brothers - and other family members of their same age - were referred to as "The younger generation". Me too, I guess. Those days are long gone. As are my parents. My dad will have been dead 30 years this coming December. Hard to believe. My mom passed away merely 9 years ago.

On a brighter note, in but 2 weeks, my bride and I will celebrate our anniversary. The 38th. That is one of the things I am most proud of - somehow I managed to convince her to stay married to me all these years. I am one helluva salesman.

My beautiful Grandson, Jacob, will turn 5 next week. He, all by himself, makes life worth living. Don't take that wrong - I only meant it as a testament to how much I love that little boy and how much joy he brings to this old fart's life.

My bride and I are attending the wedding of one of our eldest son's best friends tomorrow. As they grew up together, this kid was over to the house on many occasions since about the 7th grade or so. AS my son will reach the ripe old age of 30 in just a couple months, his friend has hung out here for a long time. The other Best friend - the third of this Unholy trio - just celebrated the birth of his second child a couple weeks ago.

Finally, today, was my Major grooming day. Understand, I take care of myself every day. But every six or so days I need to do the whole trim the beard thing. This, of course, can cause some concern too. My formerly Salt and Pepper beard is primarily salt these days. There might be one or two stray peppers in the mix, but that's about all. The remainder of the "Major Grooming" also requires some significant time - and perhaps that's really what is causing my feeling old.

See, something happens to a lot of men when they reach a certain age. Or at least to me. Those who know me are certainly aware that I am bald on top of my pate. However, there are a few errant reminders of the hair I once had up there. Though it's difficult to count them as I am not a contortionist, I'd estimate that there might be as many as 48 of them. They appear as stubble about 8 to 10 days after having shaved them. They are rearing their ugly head, so to speak.

Additionally, unwanted hair appears in strange places at my age that must be dealt with. Nose hair is bad enough - but when your ears start sprouting hair it is absolutely disconcerting. These things must also be addressed during my "Major Grooming". It isn't funny either that they are made even more visible by the fact that they have not taken on the characteristic of the remaining hair I have, which is white. The stuff sprouting anew from my nose and ears is a deep, dark brown.

Finally, as I was doing my grooming this morning, contemplating aging and wondering why I seemed to have more wrinkles than ever, I noticed, for the first time, I actually had white hair in my eyebrows. YIKES!

Old Fart Mike