Lessons of Aging

I learned lessons of aging today.

Mom asked me twice how old I was. The first time I answered, “Fifty three.”

She said, “Oh my goodness!” I asked her how old she was. She tilted her head back and said, “Hmmm, let’s see…” And then she abruptly looked at me, startled and with wide opened eyes and said, “I don’t know!”

“Do you want me to tell you?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, suddenly unconcerned.

A few hours later she again randomly asked me old I was and I told her.  This time she calmly replied, “Oh, fifty-three…okay.” So I asked her how old she was and she replied, “I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to tell you how old you are?”

Her eyes sparkled, as if I was letting her in on a great secret, and she replied, “Why don’t you!”

“You’re eighty years old,” I said.

“EIGHTY!”…