Walk Around the Block as if You’re 80

I just walked around the block with an 80-year old.

I know, I know, I always try to make decisions as if I were 80 and looking back and then seeing the Bigger Picture and all that good stuff. But you can’t always do it, it’s not always practical, in fact, it doesn’t always make sense.

But tonight I really did walk around the block with an 80-year old so I have the right to say what he actually said. Things like, “Wow, I wish I could run like that.” as my 8-year old bounced around the sidewalk like a bunny. Or as we passed a cafe where people were sipping coffees and wines, “God I would love to be 28 again.” To which I immediately replied, “Me too.”

We also walked really slowly. So slowly that I noticed every shop, all of the restaurants, the cars that wanted to get through the crosswalk, people passing us, kids faster than us, the cool night breeze, the empty storefront for lease. It was slow, it was 40 years in the future and it was just a single evening walk around a single block, but it shot me ahead 40 years and I wasn’t ready. Good, live for the evening walk around the block, count the restaurants, ask where he’d like to go next time, if he’s ready to go home, if he needs a jacket.

He’s no longer 28 and he’ll never be 28 again. For some oddly mathematical reasoning, I have a hard time comprehending that. You can’t go back in time. No, really.