of old age & technology

I want to grow old and be just like the couple in the picture which I often encounter at my local Starbucks. They make me smile, and I think they realize that they have that effect on people. In fact, I think they get a kick out of the whole ordeal…just by sitting there and staring into the lap top screens they make the rest of the coffee addicts around notice and point with an uncertain sense of astonishment and amusement. They are the kind of people that when they walk in restaurant/café the waiter always remembers their order, they are your unusual regulars.

Today they came in as always, Betty wearing her shimmering jeweled sun glasses under which lie layers of makeup and marks of old age, and Walter wearing his red Lacrosse sweater on top of a pink collar shirt. I realize that I have taken one of the chairs where they always sit side by side, and they are annoyed by it. I offer them their seat back on condition that they look after my books and lap top while I go to a nearby store to grab a sandwich. Nifty Walter staring at my Contrasts book says offer accepted young lady. We both smile, I walk away pleased that I don’t have to collect and carry everything out with me. I come back and Betty asks me what I am studying for. I say law and her eyes twinkle as she says that that’s what she always wanted to do but never got around to it. She tells me how when she was a little girl she would wear her finest clothes and stand in front of the mirror pretending that she was delivering oral arguments… “may it please the court…”. I smile. She says she always wanted to be a criminal attorney, but not the kind that would represent a murderer. Betty is a little hard of hearing so I have to speak much louder than usual making my voice project across the other side of the room. I feel like I am having a conversation with everyone in the room.

She says she became a stock broker instead of a lawyer and that she usually trades or researches stocks when she is at Starbucks. I tell her that my husband looks into them as well, but that I am not interested in them at all. She says that there is plenty of money to be made out there and lose as well. We both smile as I tell her that my husband must be the losing kind. Betty who has not known me for longer than 15 minutes tells me that she knows I will be a good attorney. Swinging her arm and fist she says, do it for me since I couldn’t. I smile again. Walter then steps in and says that Betty is usually very happy to see women get educated and have successful careers. She is a true feminist at heart he says, she was one even before there was such a movement. Betty moves her head in approval, and then starts talking about the feminist movement and how they always lacked efficient leadership. I smile again and again. I now realize that I have already smiled more than I usually do on an average day. I smile just thinking about all the smiles during our 20 minute conversation.