I'm Not too Old for This

It's amazing how many people stereotype themselves out of really living. "I'm too old to do that" is what I hear almost every time I tell someone around my age that I'm in school full time. I suppose I could feel flattered, but really, mostly I'm disappointed that so many people have shut the door on so many experiences.

My sixth grade teacher, Pat Ryan, told me years later that she got tired of teaching elementary school at about age 50, but didn't want to stop teaching completely. She went back to school and learned Spanish, so she could spend the remainder of her career teaching at the high school level. The experts spent a lot of time and energy telling her she was too old to learn a new language; they appear to have been wildly wrong.

I've been told that it's almost impossible to lose weight after age 40, 50, 60, whatever, and that learning to dance, ski, drive NASCAR-class vehicles, or target shoot is equally impossible once these milestones have come and gone. Fortunately these experts have refrained from trotting out the "old dog/new tricks" cliche, but it definitely hovers in the air above many conversations about age and ambition.

This received wisdom, as you may be able to tell, makes me frustrated. Of course, it also makes me think. I tried to draw up a list of the things for which I am too old, and it's pretty limited:

• All-night parties based on booze and drugs, and the guys who attend them
• Micro-mini skirts
• Adolescent boys of any age
• Group projects
• Dumb movies and books
• Rush Limbaugh and his slightly clammy ilk

The other list, though, keeps getting longer. I'm just the right age for:

• Dancing (Merengue, anyone?)
• Designing and making cute clothes
• Reading interesting books
• Learning new things, both in class and out
• Toting wood so I can build a fire in the stove every evening
• Watching and trying to understand the animals in the neighborhood
• Baking cookies and other sinful goodies
• Rowing
• Still studying Chinese
• Planning the next vacation
• Writing articles, the blog, papers, essays, theses . . .
• Cherishing my friends, my family, and my adorable temporary home
• Meeting new people and new ideas, including my classmates, professors, and Immanuel Kant

So, what are you the right age for?

I figure that right up to the end, I'll be a lot like my grandfather, who on his 90th birthday told a reporter the secret to his longevity was being, "Just ornery, I guess." Like Grandad, I figure I'll never be too old to be ornery and interested.