By Ray Lucas

Whenever this topic of age comes up, it appears this is a common experience, as others agree they feel the same way. It seems most of us are growing older but still feel young at heart.

Each birthday, the number of candles I’ ve just blown out doesn’ t seem to fit. At 21, I still felt like I was in my teens. When I was 32-years-old, I still felt like a college student in my mind, ready to go out to Bardstown Road. Even now, unless I’ m looking in a mirror, I still see myself as being in my mid 30s.

The effect is even more pronounced when I’ m around high school buddies as we fall right back into our teenage stories, humor and ways of seeing each other. In my eyes, my best friends are still wearing their satin Silver Creek school jackets, 50 pounds lighter and have full heads of hair. When did age become so relative? Like Einstein’ s general theory of relativity, I feel I have stumbled onto a nearly universal phenomenon that age bends and contracts just a certainly as light does around a black hole.

I remember as a kid sneaking out of bed to watch my parents play cards with friends one night around our kitchen table. At about eight years old, I recall thinking that this is what really old people do: play cards, laugh too hard and stay up late on Fridays nights.

As I reconstruct that memory, I now realize that my parents and their friends were about 28

at the time. I had seen them as being so old, but in reality they were still kids themselves. In the strange cosmic way that age works, I’ m sure they probably felt 18 at the time.

These days, I don’ t typically feel my age of late 40s. I guess I thought I would feel differently as I grew older. I assumed I’ d be wiser than I am. I was sure I’ d be more sedentary, in my recliner chair watching Matlock. Instead, I find myself throwing football in the yard with the kids, playing cards with friends on Friday nights and attending musical festivals with concert goers half my age. Heck, I recently climbed a tree. This is 40-something?

Don’ t get me wrong, there are days I do feel my actual age. I have learned about the triple crown of mid-life health maintenance in the past year as I tend to dental crowns, cholesterol and colonoscopies. So far I’ m doing OK on the three“ c’ s” and the only age-related health issue has been a recently bruised ego.

Over the winter my 17-year-old son was preparing for a jog when I blurted out,“ I’ m sure I could still beat you in a race.” I’ m not sure what possessed me. I was joking – kind of.

“ Dad, there is no way you can beat me in a foot race,” was the response of my confident and objectively more fit son. Still, I wasn’ t completely convinced that he could beat me.“ I used to run track,” I countered.“ Well, I’ m sure you used to weigh 150 pounds, too, but that doesn’ t really help you now does it? I would crush you, Dad.”

My son went out of his way to show his amusement at my wild claim. And with that

110 EXTOL: APRIL / MAY 2018