Growing old together
This weekend, we snuck away to our favorite beach. I say snuck because I literally packed under cover of darkness and we didn't tell any family we were going until we were already gone. It's sort of irresponsible for us because we always do the right thing. Always. But, it was fun.
Yesterday morning we ate at Big Os along with the rest of the over 50 crowd. We shopped at the outlet mall in Foley and bought presents for our nephew and nieces. We laughed at inside jokes and drove around the mall and parked in front of the stores instead of walking all over the place because there was parking a-plenty. After all, it's January. No one goes to the beach in January.
Yesterday afternoon we sat on our balcony at the hotel and watched the choppy surf and talked about everything. We watched the seagulls standing at the edge of the water as though they waited for something. Our hair was windblown and our faces were ruddy as we snuggled beneath blankets and sipped cokes. We were relaxed and content.
Since it is January, the beach was inhabited mostly by Snowbirds, those people who live up North the rest of the year but come to the Alabama gulf coast to ride out winter. It's a lot warmer here than say Indiana or Wisconsin. The thing about Snowbirds is that they are all pretty much senior citizens. If you can believe it, besides the various help at stores and restaurants, we were the youngest people we saw.
Last night at dinner, we sat next to a table full of older couples. When the waitress came to take their drink order, the men ordered a pitcher of beer. One man turned to his wife and said, "What you want to drink, baby." Alan and I both heard it.
I looked at Alan who had tears in his eyes. "He called her baby, did you hear that?"
"I did, why the tears?"
"Well, I'd like to think we are on our way there...growing old together." With Alan's health, growing old together hasn't always been something we've taken too seriously. In fact, we look on each day as a gift. I remember when he couldn't see living past 50. On Tuesday, he turns 50 and he's talking about living to 75.
What he doesn't seem to realize is we ARE growing old together. We met when we were 20. Married at 21. We are almost 50 now. That's 30 years together. We have grown up together. Guess now we'll be in our 50s, growing old together is not a dream, but a reality. It's more fun than I'd ever dreamed.
Yesterday morning we ate at Big Os along with the rest of the over 50 crowd. We shopped at the outlet mall in Foley and bought presents for our nephew and nieces. We laughed at inside jokes and drove around the mall and parked in front of the stores instead of walking all over the place because there was parking a-plenty. After all, it's January. No one goes to the beach in January.
Yesterday afternoon we sat on our balcony at the hotel and watched the choppy surf and talked about everything. We watched the seagulls standing at the edge of the water as though they waited for something. Our hair was windblown and our faces were ruddy as we snuggled beneath blankets and sipped cokes. We were relaxed and content.
Since it is January, the beach was inhabited mostly by Snowbirds, those people who live up North the rest of the year but come to the Alabama gulf coast to ride out winter. It's a lot warmer here than say Indiana or Wisconsin. The thing about Snowbirds is that they are all pretty much senior citizens. If you can believe it, besides the various help at stores and restaurants, we were the youngest people we saw.
Last night at dinner, we sat next to a table full of older couples. When the waitress came to take their drink order, the men ordered a pitcher of beer. One man turned to his wife and said, "What you want to drink, baby." Alan and I both heard it.
I looked at Alan who had tears in his eyes. "He called her baby, did you hear that?"
"I did, why the tears?"
"Well, I'd like to think we are on our way there...growing old together." With Alan's health, growing old together hasn't always been something we've taken too seriously. In fact, we look on each day as a gift. I remember when he couldn't see living past 50. On Tuesday, he turns 50 and he's talking about living to 75.
What he doesn't seem to realize is we ARE growing old together. We met when we were 20. Married at 21. We are almost 50 now. That's 30 years together. We have grown up together. Guess now we'll be in our 50s, growing old together is not a dream, but a reality. It's more fun than I'd ever dreamed.
Labels: beach, growing older, gulf coast
posted by Mrs. J @ 9:44 PM
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