My children sometimes think I came from another planet. I have always kept young by refusing to act like an old person – okay to be correct I should say older person. However, I would like to know why at age 70 do I have to be politically correct?

I introduced my children to the “old way” of doing things when they were children. We went on family hikes, bike rides, skating parties, wiener roasts out at the local gravel pit and we chased fireflies on summer nights. Fishing trips where our “commode” was a hole in the ground and worms were the bait – nothing artificial. Cooking consisted of vegetables grown in our yard. I taught them to race open stock cars. However, for some reason I was never able to instill my love of flying – I have two who refuse to fly unless there is absolutely positively no other way to get there. My youngest still wants a highway built to Hawaii. When my children thought they were too old to participate in these activities anymore, I took a youth group at our church and started teaching them about the old way of having fun.

On her birthday my oldest daughter was the recipient of a swim suit. My youngest daughter had let it slip to her that I was giving her a one piece suit – I could see the dread in her eyes as she opened the gift because she knew I expected her to wear it the next week at our swim party. When the opened the gift she started laughing, “Mom, I should have known you won’t pick a granny suit.” The suit was one piece, but it had cutouts that were quite attractive and just a little bit revealing. My son-in-law, in shock, said, “You are not going to wear that are you?” Daughter replied, “I certainly am. My mother picked it out for me and if she thinks it is modest enough, it is!

During this period of time video games for television came into existence and I loved them. Some of the neighborhood children (who came to our house because we had two televisions dedicated to the games) would wait until I conquered a level and obtained the codes.

Then, in the course of time grandchildren started to appear and I discovered the joy of Sesame Street, twister, Leap Frog and some weird game where you dance on colors on the floor (they hate it when Grandmother does it faster than they do). As soon as they were old enough I started taking them on run/walks. I introduced them to power walking (they were so cute). Rock climbing was next and I discovered I had a little monkey in the family (he beat me to the top).

We went to the beach a few weeks ago and my oldest son told his children that “Grandmere probably won’t want to build sand houses with you because she is getting a little old.” The children were so sweet and offered to do something else – my sand house was bigger and better than the ones they built.

The key to feeling like a kid again is to act like a kid again. I know the day will come when I won’t be able to tell that joint to quit hurting and get moving, but until then I am going to act like a kid and have fun. Don’t worry if you think you look stupid (or even if one of your children says, “Why don’t you act like a grandmother?” What matters is how you feel inside and how much you enjoy your life. Besides, I understand I am going to be starting on great grandchildren in a short while and I am looking forward to another generation of fun. Age is only a number – ignore it!