I went to the Cambridge, Iowa apple orchard with a friend on Sunday. It was a nice sunny day, and I didn’t nor couldn’t imagine the horror and scene we would encounter as we got there. At least 2 million people, mostly kids and black Friday shoppers … it was my nightmare (that and any period of time I would spend in a Disney theme park – shudder.) We left after 15 minutes and went to nearby vineyard and drank wine on the porch. The day was saved. I do not like crowds. I don’t do well in crowds.
So I’m finding out more about myself as I age. When I’ve taken personality tests in the past it says that I am a certified extrovert – except I have to wonder about this because I’m liking the extro part of my life less and less. (My birthday is this Saturday, and I’m going to be 53 – which doesn’t mean anything to me … 53 is not one of those years people freak out over, it’s just a number. However, on Facebook, it says my age is 41 because Facebook kept sending me old guy marketing, and so I redid my age on it to avoid looking at ads I didn’t want to see.)
The other thing in my advanced age is that I am less tolerant than I used to be. Case in point. I took the nephews on Saturday night to Mason City to visit the 2 brewpubs. The first one we went to was celebrating “dog-tober” (dog October). I didn’t know this was an official holiday, but I guess it is celebrated by bringing your dog to a brewpub. When we got there, about 7 dogs were present. In about 15 minutes another 10 showed up and there was a bit of chaos (barking and sniffing, etc.). I’m not that much of a prude that this was over the top until the dogs started to … go to the bathroom in the restaurant, next to our table. Not good.
My patience in general isn’t wearing, but as the years click by I am just a bit more sensitive to stuff. Pretty soon I imagine I’ll be shaking my fist at kids in the neighborhood and telling them to stay off my lawn.
