Fringe Benefits

published October 15, 2009

in the Stockton Sentinel, 

Stockton, Kansas

It happened so quickly and quietly that I didn't even know it until it was a done deal. Bob and I had our three little granddaughters with us Saturday evening, and we stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken for supper. It was there that the young kid at the cash register delivered a startling reality check: he gave Bob and I a "senior discount." And he didn't even ask our age. I might never have known it if Bob had not checked our ticket to see why our final tab was less than expected and then proceeded to share this revelation with me.

I suppose it is just one more rite of passage, and I'm sure at some point I will learn to appreciate and even enjoy this "fringe benefit" of growing older. But this is the first time it has ever happened. Perhaps the young kid taking our order figured those three little kids with us must be our grandchildren, and that would make us grandparents, and from his young perspective, that would make us old. Maybe we actually DO look old. Maybe we actually ARE old!

An email I received recently defined old age as "the time when you still have a lot on the ball but you're just too tired to bounce it." That's especially appropriate since I've lived with "Coach Becker" most of my life. And even though it describes how I feel many days, I'm certainly not ready to throw in the towel.

Tuesday, the 13th, was Bob's and my 36th wedding anniversary, and my oldest brother and his wife are about to celebrate their 40th. I was talking to my mother one day last week, and she commented about how old these events of ours make her feel. I told her I understand how she feels, and that even my own birthdays don't make me feel as old as the birthdays and anniversaries of my children.

Our oldest son, who is 32, has been married 10 years and has three children. Three granddaughters for us to enjoy and lavish all our love and attention upon, and that's the BEST fringe benefit of growing older! So from now on, we will happily take those three little fringe benefits into KFC or any place where we receive a "senior discount."