Getting Older....WHAT????

Several times the past few months I have questioned why people seem to think I am getting older. It started at HEB, while I was pondering which bottled water to buy, if any. I was looking at them, comparing prices, trying to reach a decision when a young lady dressed as if she was heading to some exercise class rather than HEB, asked if I needed help loading the water. I assured her I was quite capable, and chalked it up to possibly being "do something nice for someone" day. Then a young boy who lives in our neighborhood rode up on his bike one morning, while Benny and I were sitting on the front porch drinking coffee. I asked how his summer was going, and he mentioned that his step-mom had him working for a meals on wheels type of place, and he had been delivering food to "elderly people like ya'll", he said. I said "WHAT??" He said "Oh, I didn't mean anything by that!" but it was too late....I'd already heard it! So as Benny and I sat there, trying to convince ourselves that he possibly needed to get his eyes examined, it dawned on me that to this little boy, (8th grader) we were indeed elderly. Fast forward to another HEB incident. I was putting my items up on the belt that would take them to the cashier. We made eye contact, and she said "Ma'am, do you need someone to come help you place your items up on the belt?" I wanted to say "Listen lady, I can work circles around you! You have no idea what all I have done today, or what I will do when I get home!!!!! I can place my items on the belt my own self!" But what I said was "no thank you, I can do this", and thought to myself...there sure are alot of people needing to get their eyes examined! I kept thinking that surely these were isolated situations, and that there was no validity in their questioning my age, or my abilities. Then I get another blow when a nice, young neighbor asked if we had happened to stop in her place of employment and ask if she was there. We had indeed done just that a few weeks ago. She said the co-worker said that an "older couple" had stopped in and had wanted to see her. Ok, that's it! I've had it! Its not bad enough that her co-worker thought we were an older couple, but this sweet young girl had to share that tidbit with us! So for the past few days I've tried to come to grips with this. How can I feel in my early 30's, how can I have energy galore most days, how can I not see wrinkles and gray hairs and all that comes along with looking older? Maybe its because I choose NOT to feel older/elderly etc! I KNOW I'm not in my early 30's....I have a daughters who are 39 and 34, so that is impossible. But I choose not to act old! I come by that honestly. My parents never acted their ages, working up until the very last day that they could, never sitting still. They were still helping out the elderly in their last years, and often times those people were the same age as they were.....they just acted older. I have a brother who is 71, and in his mind he would probably say he feels about 35 most days! I guess my point in this story is that I am going to continue to act the way I feel for as long as I can. And I feel young! I am thankful every day for the energy that God gives me, and the health that I have been blessed with. I think we are supposed to help people out, in whatever way that we can, for as long as we can. And I pray that when the day does come that I need help in some way, that I can graciously accept it, with love and appreciation. But until that day, I want all these people with poor eyesight to go get glasses!