The Fun of Aging

Sheila gave me this card early in our relationship, because she saw it as us. It's now framed on her dresser as a reminder to keep things in perspective!

by Skip Cohen

​As always, I'm off the topics of business and marketing on a Sunday morning. But, if you've followed me for long enough, then you know it's something I simply need to do. It's therapeutic to share thoughts on something other than the business we're all in.

So, I'm not sure why, but this morning I'm a little obsessed with the joy of aging...I'm technically now in my "Golden Years," although for the life of me, I can't figure out why or who suggested they were "Golden." For Sheila and me, we've chosen to embrace the humor of it all.

Obviously, we're not alone, because I caught a t-shirt online the other day that said,

90 percent of a marriage is yelling "What?" from another room.

​But let's take it one step further and into our house as we get older...
​

• Sheila said something to me while we were in the kitchen, like "Too much pepper I'm going to sneeze," and I opened the fridge, pulled out the cheese drawer, and said, "Which one do you want?"  
• Through the pandemic, I think we've watched everything Netflix offers. But now and then, we'll be halfway through a movie and realize we saw it already.
• Then there are evenings when "Alexa" saves our sanity as we're trying to remember the name of the actor we liked in a particular movie and can't for the life of us get their name.

I know we're not alone on that one because "The Book of Awesome," as an awesome life experience, wrote:

"Finally remembering a word that's been on the tip of your tongue for so long: It's like throwing a pail of cold water on all your smoking inner head parts. Gears unjam, lines start rolling, and you settle back in the restaurant booth with a satisfied smile on your face and just blurt it out. "parcheesi, that's what it was called."

• Then there are jokes. Tony Cobell once told me there are 12 people in the world who know all of the jokes, and he and I were two of them. But here's the challenge with aging...when I want to tell one, I often can't remember it until somebody else tells one first - then watch out as the dam breaks, they all start to flow. (By the way, Joe Glyda is at the top of that list to know EVERY joke in the world!)
• We've got two pups, Lucy and Belle - so why are there days when I can't get their names right?
• And when did the music on our favorite TV shows become louder than the dialog forcing one of us to say, "What did she say?" Then it's rewind and listen to it again.
• Then it's remembering names and faces. Just coming back from IUSA, I caught up to friends I hadn't seen in over two years, but the longer I'm in this industry, the more people I've met, and it's become impossible to match all the names with the faces.

And there you have it - the joy of aging. According to Sheila, I don't act any older, but I notice I creak for ten minutes in the morning. But the truth is, I'm loving getting older - could we do without a few of the challenges with health issues? Of course! However, aging is a mindset, and if you can laugh at so many stupid things we become aware of, then it's true - laughter really is the best medicine.

Plus, we live in Sarasota County, which supposedly has the highest average age per capita of any county in the US. So we're in good company, which explains so many people doing 15 mph in the right lane with their left turn signal on!

Wishing everybody a day filled with chuckles. Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn to keep things in perspective because if we've learned nothing else over the last two bizarre years - life is simply too short. And go for those eleven-second therapeutic hugs I've been suggesting every Sunday for the last five years!

Happy Sunday...or Monday if you're on the other side of the world.