The Slice: Gray area blurs line between young and old

Self-image can be slippery.

If you believe age is just a number, you might see yourself one way while the rest of the world has other ideas.

Just recently I had the happy experience of visiting with new neighbors, an appealing couple. They are quite young and have a newborn son named Franklin. (The kid has Paul Newman eyes.)

In discussing the neighborhood, I found myself referring to various residents as “an older couple” or “an older woman.”

Later, it occurred to me that this young couple undoubtedly thinks of me that way.

You know. “That old guy across the street? Oh, yeah. We met him. He said he liked Frank’s name.”

Oh, well. That’s OK. Everything is relative. I might be older than the baby’s grandfathers.

All this was still in the back of my mind when I arranged to have lunch with a couple of my mom’s friends last week. I last saw Roger and Anita in 1968, when I was 13 and all of us lived back East.

I remembered that I really liked them. Roger worked for my dad. He and Anita gave off happy vibrations.

They were way younger than just about all of my parents’ friends. And to my teenage eyes, they made adulthood look like it could be fun.

Anyway, Roger and Anita moved to Spokane not long ago. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we planned the lunch. After all, it had been more than 40 years.

But I quickly discovered that they still give off happy vibes. And they make a slightly grayer version of adulthood look like it could be fun.

Even if you are the old guy across the street.

Today’s Slice question: If all you want is a cell phone that can make calls and receive calls, how do you deal with friends and family members who insist you need one that can also do 50 other things?