Reality Check!

I remember my shock the first time a young cashier asked me if I wanted the seniors' discount on "Seniors' Day."

Do I look 65?! I exclaimed. (I was in my mid 50s...)

Well, no, the poor, flustered girl replied. A lot of seniors don't look 65. But they all get mad at me if I don't give them the discount. So I give it to everyone who wants it... Besides you only have to be 55 for us to give it to you.

In that case, give me the seniors' discount, I replied, stunned... I was really a senior?!

Another reality check occurred recently when I read a newspaper article about an unnamed "elderly woman" who had been in an accident. Of course, I visualized someone my mother's age.

I later discovered, not only that I knew the person in the article - but that we are exactly the same age! (Really?! So now I'm "elderly," too?!)

A line from a Robbie Burns poem comes to mind:
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us! 

Or, in Canadian English:
O would some Power the gift give us
To see ourselves as others see us!

(But then again, it may not be a gift most of us want!)