It is a good thing to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved by many friends.
EURIPIDES
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My husband, a big-time sports fan, was watching a football game with our grandchildren. He had just turned 75 and was feeling a little wistful. "You know," he said to our grandson, Nick, "it’s not easy getting old. I guess I’m in the fourth quarter now."
"Don’t worry, Grandpa," Nick said cheerily. "Maybe you’ll go into overtime."
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My grandfather has a knack for looking on the bright side of life. Even after receiving the terrible diagnosis that he had Alzheimer’s, he was philosophical.
"There’s one good thing that’ll come from this," he told my father.
"What’s that?" asked Dad.
"Now I can hide my own Easter eggs."
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Fans of ’60s music, my 14-year-old daughter and her best friend got front-row tickets to a Peter, Paul and Mary concert. When they returned home, my daughter said, "During the show, we looked back and saw hundreds of little lights swaying to the music. At first we thought the people were holding up cigarette lighters. Then we realized that the lights were the reflections off all the eyeglasses in the audience."
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I had just had my 50th birthday and found the decade marker traumatic. When I went to get my driver’s license renewed, a matter-of-fact woman typed out the information, tested my vision, snapped the camera and handed me a laminated card with my picture on it.
"You mean I have to look at this for the next four years?" I jokingly said to her.
"Don’t worry about it," she replied. "In four years it’ll look good to you."
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Curious when I found two black-and-white negatives in a drawer, I had them made into prints. I was pleasantly surprised to see they were of a younger, slimmer me taken on one of my first dates with my husband.
When I showed him the photographs, his face lit up. "Wow! It’s my old Plymouth."
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Now that I’m over 40, younger teammates have begun to tease me about my declining abilities as a softball player. During one game, I was playing third base when a batter ripped a shot over my head. I leapt as high as I could, but the ball tipped off the end of my glove and fell safely for a hit.
At the end of the inning, I was heading for the dugout when our left fielder caught up with me. "That much!" he called, holding his thumb and forefinger a couple of inches apart.
"I know," I replied. "I almost had it."
"No," he said. "I mean that’s how far you got off the ground."
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Our dear friend Trudy attended my husband’s birthday party. Though she’s been through a lot—including a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery—Trudy was the life of the party as usual. Hugging her good-bye, I couldn’t help noticing she had nothing on under her blouse.
"Trudy, you’re not wearing a bra!" I whispered.
With a twinkle in her eye she replied, "I may be 70, honey, but they’re only 15."
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For my grandmother’s 80th birthday, we had a huge family celebration and even managed to get a photo announcement printed in the local paper. "That was a nice shot," I commented.
"It’s my passport picture," she revealed.
"Really?" I stared in amazement at my homebody grandma. "Where did you go?"
"Walgreens," she replied.
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My 20th high-school class reunion was held at a hotel on the same night that another school’s tenth-year reunion was taking place. While my friends and I were in the rest room talking, some unfamiliar women entered.
After their stares became uncomfortable, we turned toward them. One of the women said, "Don’t mind us. We just wanted to see how we’d look in another ten years."
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My brother and his wife started their family in their early 40s. One day my sister-in-law and I were commiserating about the effects of time marching on.
"I just got my first pair of glasses," she said, and paused as her two preschool boys thundered past her. "Now, if only my hearing would go."
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I was having lunch with several thirty-something friends when talk turned to the dismal prospect of our growing older.
"Well, judging by my mother," I said, "at least my hearing will improve. My mother can hear my biological clock ticking from 200 miles away."
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The summer after college graduation, I was living at home, fishing in the daytime, spending nights with my friends—generally just hanging out. One afternoon my grandfather, who never went to college, stopped by.
Concerned with how I was spending my time, he asked about my future plans. I told him I was in no hurry to tie myself down to a career.
"Well," he replied, "you better start thinking about it. You’ll be thirty before you know it."
"But I’m closer to twenty than to thirty," I protested. "I won’t be thirty for eight more years."
"I see," he said, smiling. "And when will you be twenty again?"
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My husband and I, married 13 years, were dressing for a party. I’d spent all day getting a haircut and permanent, then as we were leaving, we met in the hall and he said nothing. I complained that he had not even noticed my hair. "You used to pay attention to every little thing, and now you don’t notice anything! You take me for granted!"
My husband stood there rubbing his face as he let me rant and rave. Then it hit me: He’d shaved off his six-month-old beard.
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Good morning everyboomie.
I got nothing.
Maybe I'll go have some ice cream.
Ok that was awesome. Blue Bell Homemade Vanilly ice cream.
I still got nothing.....but I feel better about it.
Have a happy day everyone.
joe