It’s a good thing that I try to look at growing old with a sense of humor. According to my family tree, I will live longer than most other people do. My father was 89 when he died, and his three sisters were 98, 99, and 97. His mother died at the age of 90.

In addition to living to a ripe old age, our family members usually enjoy fairly good health while they are carrying this out.

My mother lived to be 90 years old. In her case, I guess I should say 90 years young because she was the youngest oldster I have ever seen. We still smile at her young attitude and some of the things she did and said.

She loved to be around young people and was quite put out when someone referred to her as “old.” She definitely wore a purple hat.

Her motto was as follows: “The older you get, the more you can get by with,” and it’s true to an extent. Mother didn’t do anything bad, but the silly things that happen to us or the sometimes politically incorrect things we say are excused when they happen to or are done by an older person, especially when that person smiles. Mother smiled a lot.

Another of mother’s mottoes involved complaining or the lack of. She believed that people liked to talk to her but they didn’t like to hear her complain all the time. She had several medical problems about which she could have complained if she wished.

I try to be like mother and remember that there is always someone who is worse off than I am and not to complain about the aches and pains I have. They could be worse.

There are some good points to aging. The best one is that you don’t have to be a teenager in today’s society. Another is that you are probably already settled in your niche in life as far as career and family go.

There are a lot of other perks to getting those gray hairs on one’s head. I have listed some of these below. Of course, these must be read with tongue in cheek. Some of them might even be true. Most of them only border on the truth.

• Kidnappers are not interested in you, and you would probably be released first in a hostage situation.

• No one expects you to run anywhere.

• You don’t have to shop anymore. The clothes you buy now will probably never wear out.

• People don’t call you after 9:00.

• People no longer look at you as a hypochondriac, and you are expected to complain.

• You enjoy hearing about other’s operations.

• When you have a party, it is over so early the neighbors don’t complain.

• You no longer feel you have to go ten miles above the speed limit on four lanes.

• You don’t have to hold your stomach in no matter who walks by.

• You actually enjoy elevator music.

• You can meet at McDonald’s for breakfast club.

• There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

• Your eyesight won’t get much worse unless you get cataracts.

• You don’t have to worry about getting that first pair of reading glasses.

• You don’t have to watch the weather channel because you just check to see which joint is aching.

• You don’t have to worry about your friends telling your secrets because they can’t remember them.

• You are finally getting some reimbursement from all those health premiums you paid for years.

• Your term life insurance is paid up.

• People are nice to you even if you make mistakes.

• Young people think you are “cute.”

I have a friend who told me, “You know, I’m not handling this growing old business very well.” My response was, “Well, you’d better learn because it isn’t going away.”

As Jack Benny once said, “Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

In closing, here are a few last thoughts about growing old: You know you are old when someone compliments you on your alligator shoes and you are barefoot.

You know you are old when you don’t care where your spouse goes as long as you don’t have to go, too.

You know you are old when “getting lucky” means finding your car in the Wal Mart parking lot.

Life is too short to spend it aging. Even if we can’t do anything about the body’s getting older, we can control the attitude.