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Highlands Today > Raliegh Whiteman Columns

Aging Amongst Young Hot-Rodders

Raleigh Whiteman

Published: March 12, 2009

Getting older is getting tougher and tougher every day, especially now that I am midway in my septuagenarian years, somewhere between 70 and 79 years old. Getting to be a centenarian, someone between 100 and 109 years old, is going to take a lot more of paying attention to the ways that could, would, may or definitely will interfere with that accomplishment.

I consider myself a careful driver yet every now and then I will notice something in my peripheral vision that requires another look away from the way I am driving and almost every time will wander from the lane I am in. Even the simple task of tuning my radio is taking more concentration than it should.

So far I have survived, (knock on wood Raleigh).

ATMs Need Standardization
About a week ago the PW and I were heading out for an evening of dining and dancing. On the way we stopped at the bank's ATM for the necessary funds. I pride myself at my ability to get the money from the machine with just a few seconds required. However, recently I was behind a New Yorker in an expensive sports sedan and because she could not reach the ATM seated in her car, she had to park outside the drive-through and walk up to the unfamiliar ATM. She read every instruction through her bifocals to get what she needed. A normal 45-second transaction took her at least three minutes before she walked back to her car and then she took another minute to put the cash away and get the car started again.

I was annoyed, but not mad, after all we were going to have a fun evening and letting a little thing like being delayed for four minutes was not going to spoil our evening. I got the cash I needed and within 30 seconds had pulled away to let another get to the ATM even though there was not anyone behind me.

Close Call, Near Disaster
I pulled to the street and stopped while I put the cash into my wallet. Traffic cleared to my right with no one coming and cleared to my left, looked again to the right and pulled away to cross the west-bound lane when out of nowhere a white pickup was coming at me at 60-plus mph. Stopping in the lane was not an option, so I spun the tires and barely cleared the lane with the driver giving me the finger as he passed behind us without slowing his truck one iota.

I was mad now. This guy must have run the red light in his hurry to get somewhere important. My problem was that he had the right of way.

Now that is one way to definitely stop the aging process.

Impatience Of Youth
There is a vast difference between the way 35 year-olds and we who are twice that age think and what their goals in life are and how they live their lives. At 35 I had goals and accomplished many very successfully. Now in my mid-seventies I want to be able to enjoy these accomplishments for another 20 or more years and live reasonably comfortable with that person who continues to provide love and companionship. I don't want some hot-headed hot-rodder taking that opportunity away.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, is a contributing writer to Highlands Today. You can reach him on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

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