People are the Same

We all know that people are the same wherever you go.  So say Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.

Since Dad has been in assisted living I have had the opportunity to visit him regularly and see a lot of different people.  Most of them are older than me.  I asked Mom a few years ago what it felt like to turn 80.  She said it didn't feel like anything.  She didn't feel like she was 80, she just was.  Even though Dad is now 83 I can tell that he feels like he's still young, but with a body that doesn't quite work like it once did.  Finally I remember Mom telling me that when she moved Grandpa and Grandma, her parents, into a nursing home Grandpa said he didn't want to be around all those old people.  He was over 90 at the time, older than all those old people.

I took Dad to lunch the other day.  He decided to sit at a table that was already occupied by several ladies.  Everyone at the table, including Dad, seemed to be dressed and groomed much like they would have been 30 years ago when they weren't so old.  Most of the ladies had makeup on that didn't hide much of their age.  These are normal people.  They lived for a while before I was born but they don't feel old.

I remember being in Elders Quorum meetings a few years ago.  In the Church most of the active men are ordained Elders when they are 18 or 19 or when they have been active members for at least a few months.  I went to an activity which was somewhat athletic and after being there a while I realized that I was 10 years older than the next oldest person.  I hadn't even thought about it.  I have never been athletic so I just thought that was the reason I was so much more out of shape than everyone else.  In quorum meetings on Sunday we had a teacher who was 10 years older than me and then me and then everyone else was more than 10 years younger than me.  I was offered an opportunity to start meeting with the High Priests, which I did.  High Priests tend to be older.

In observing people throughout my life I have found that most children are little people waiting to understand enough to be adults and adults often have many of the same attributes and habits they had when they were little.  Age does not seem to have a large effect on the way we think, but mostly on the way we act out what we think.  I look at old people, the way they talk, the way they act and the look in their eyes.  They are little children still at play but in a grown up world. 

Dad has that playful look in his eyes, maybe a little extra.  I think that's why I feel good when someone compares me to him.