Article January 15, 2007 Issue

AGELESS THINKING, AGELESS LIVING

BY SANDRA SCOTT

ON A GORGEOUS crystal-clear afternoon, walking along the lakeside path toward our sailboat, my husband and I passed four boys fishing by the path. In reply to some question that I couldn't hear, one of the boys remarked that he was waiting to cast his line—because he didn't want to hit "the old lady."

As I glanced around, it suddenly struck me that I was the only person he could have been referring to. Who, me? Surely, I didn't hear him correctly? Regrettably, though, my husband had also heard the remark. So there it was.

Instantly I recalled my teenage daughter's stunned look just days before, when she walked in the door from school. Stopping on her way home to fuel up the car, she had been called "Ma'am" for the first time, and it had really thrown her for a loop.