Some days I hear a lot of old people noise,

some of it coming from me, some from them.

How is your health?, people say, looking deeply into my eyes.

Why don’t they say, “how are you?” Do they really want to know?

My knees say, “hey, think about how you are going to stand up sometimes!”

My feet say, take off your shoes, I need to rest.

Maria says, “hey, let me carry that, and grabs my  bucket

or shovel.”

The girl at the Dunkin’ Donuts window offers me my  “Senior” discount,

five cents off my cup of tea.

The health insurance company calls me to asks if I need to buy transportation

insurance to get to the doctor, or someone to come to the house to help me tie my shoes.

And asks me if I can bend over and touch my toes. No, I say, not now, not when I was ten.

Sometimes, I have to think a minute to remember a name.

Sometimes, people say “at our age,” and shake their heads.

A man came up to me and slapped me on the back at the grocery,

and laughed and said, “do we still buy green bananas?”

The kid at the hardware store asks me if I need help carrying my stuff to the car.

Will I choose to stay alive as long as possible, anywhere I can,

at any cost to anyone alive? Or will I choose to move on

well and with dignity and love around me?

People tell me how their health is, even when I don’t ask.

Some of them don’t talk about the weather and politics any more,

it doesn’t matter any more,

they tell me about their tests, like weekly scores in a playoff.

They are on the way the pharmacy, picking up their pills.

They don’t think it’s right to get a dog any more.

Is this the meaning of growing older?

Finally learning something. Seeing the wisdom and humor of the world?

Passing things along. Taking a breath. Saving love and the sweetness of days? Having many things to write?

Is growing older a mindset? Or lament? Another chapter, or the story of health insurance?

Is it what I say about me, or what doctors say?

What I feel, or what the tests show?

I don’t want to make old people noise, it is not a sweet or thoughtful sound.

Here is my mindset.

I know where I am.  I used to think I was always about to die.

Now, I think I will live to be 90, and am just heading

for mid-career.

Thank you, I am fine. And thanks for asking.