Grow Old Along with Me...

I wanna get old like the people around here. Some of them live here year round, some only live here from May to October and head back to whatever part of the world they enjoy for the other months. From what I can tell from my long walks with the girls, these are some very busy older people.

During the summer months this place is hopping with the young. When we came to visit several times in July and August, the streets were full of young kids, teens and adults rambling around. This time of year the senior citizens rule. Most of the time when I’m out for a walk I will only see people who appear to be at the earliest, in their 60s. They are walking, riding bikes, or even running at all times during the day. My next door neighbor is building a dormer on the side of their house. He takes breaks and joins his wife on a bike ride or a stroll to spend some time on the beach. In the morning during low tide you can find groups of older people playing croquet in long complex designs on the beach. In the afternoon and evening low tide you can find them playing bocce ball. While the young head out into the surf in with their boards and wetsuits, the older people are walking the beach with their dogs, looking for shells or sea life. As one lady put it, “we spend a lot of time being busy doing nothing”.

They have pot lucks and walking dinners (walk from house to house for different courses – an elderly version of Trick or Treating) and monthly theme dinners (Septembers dinner is Fall Harvest). They play cards or just sit out on their porches and watch the traffic.

We haven’t quite broken into the social structure here as our kids would cramp their style. They certainly love to look, talk with and be momentarily silly with the girls, but then they are back on the move – back to being busy doing nothing.

I think growing old is probably like a much longer version of Seinfeld – it’s a lot about doing nothing – but having a good time and some laughs along the way.