Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Old Before My Time But Refusing to Grow Up

Winston Churchill famously said, “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” While Churchill was discussing Soviet policy and Russian nationalism, his sentiment has been applied to a broad array of topics, often with “conundrum” replacing “puzzle” in the phrase. And, I think I can safely join the ranks of people and events that are triply perplexing.

This morning serves as an example. I’m reading Twitter posts while listening to a Pandora radio station, built around Harry Connick Jr. Many songs on the station are by Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. I’m also getting a few songs by Harry Connick, Diana Krall, John Pizzarelli (a personal favorite) and Michael Buble. (Truthfully, I could do with less Buble and more Dean Martin but whatever.) I’m bopping along to artists who were in their prime long before I was born and loving every minute of it.

At first glance, this is “old people’s music”. Some might argue that a person like me, in my late 30s, shouldn’t prefer this genre of music. But, the older I get, the more I love listening to jazz and classical. I’m still a fan of rock and pop but I rarely listen to country anymore, which was the mainstay of my adolescent years. Back in high school, listening to country was a great way to be deliberately weird. I’ve always liked doing things that made others shake their heads and say, “That’s just Ruth being Ruth.” I’m sure most of my family already knew it but I deliberately cultivate the loner-oddball persona. There, I admitted it. Ha!

Of course, I also still have my childlike traits too (some might say I’m childish, but I digress). I happily pour over the ThinkGeek website and I covet the working lightsabers they sell. I can’t justify spending over $100 for a lightsaber. But man, I’d love to have one! I can just picture having a lightsaber duel with Jen some evening during the summer. We’d have such fun! And, it would terrify the cats, which is an added bonus.

I guess in some ways I’m fortunate. I think I’d have been a grumpy old woman long before my time but Jen keeps me from taking myself too seriously. We’re still able to laugh and goof around, which keeps us young, I think. I just hope we can sustain that into our gray years.