WHAT IS RETIREMENT AGE?

By

Gerry Niskern

We had a retirement at my house the other day.

I was cleaning out my car and throwing away junk accumulated in the back. When I got to the bottom, there was my trusty, old friend. My aluminum lawn chair. You know the kind. It’s made of aluminum tubing and the seat and back are woven fabric slats.

The best thing about those old chairs is they are so light weight. There are all kinds of super deluxe chairs out now. They are made nylon, have cup holders and pockets and are super heavy. Ken bought two and insisted on carrying them too. But when he wasn’t along I grabbed my light weight friend.

Together that old chair and I attended baseball and soccer games when our grandsons played. It held me when I watched my granddaughter slide into home many times. Something I never thought I would see that girl do. Sometimes there were bleachers and sometimes not. And besides, those bleachers are hard!

I sat in that chair and watched my first Great-grandson play baseball too. I don’t think his heart was ever in it, but he did want to please his dad.

I saw my Great-grandaughter play softball for a while. She was good at it, but she soon changed her sport to volleyball and she excelled at that game for many years.

My chair went to her brother’s first base ball game at age three. He loved the game and couldn’t wait to start. Then, he bulked at the last minute and decided he didn’t want to play. Big surprise!  Pleading, bribes, nothing worked. Until his thirteen year old brother offered to go out on the field with him and then he went. The last game my chair went to was to watch him play for PVC.  Now he’s playing for Arkansas Tech on a baseball scholarship.

My chair’s sports days are over. So it’s taking a well deserved rest in the back of the garage…….but not too far back, you never know!