Feelin' My Age (Maybe Not Acting It)

To nick the old cliché: "I'm gettin' too old for this stuff."



Since relocating to my new town of residence, I've experienced a statistical age shift in the people I hang out with. For most of my life, I've been the child of the group, one of the Pups. Now, I find myself more and more being the Old Dog.

I'm sure this is a function of being unmarried. I don't hang out with many (okay, any) married people. I have many married friends in the world; the significant phrase here is "hang out with."

Hanging out with people who are on the approach to 3-0 (unlike myself, rocketing away from it), I sometimes become involved in behavior I haven't indulged in since college.

In a lot of ways it's very fun; in a lot of ways it's very painful.



I'm proud that I could keep up with the marathon of beer that was Saturday night. I never was much of a sprinter, anyway, I just haven't been in training for a long, long time.

The sky was just starting to glow on Sunday morning as I was desperately crashing out on a near-stranger's couch. Next to me, my friend lay on my shoulder mumbling, "I have to warn you. I'm feeling a bit nauseous." Experience told me it was a false alarm, and soon enough her breathing was regular. Fast asleep.

The Old Dog looked around the strange surroundings and thought, "Man, I wish I had a toothbrush."