Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories.
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I’d like to say a few words today about aging. If you ask most guys my age, how they first became aware that they were getting old, I think they would tell you that it was a gradual thing. Maybe they noticed that the hair on the top of their head was getting a little thinner. Or their dark brown hair started to become flecked with gray. But it was such a gradual thing that took quite some time before it really registered with them.
The symptoms are different for everyone. For example, my long time Marysville friend, Jim Snider, who was six years older than me, once told me that he rarely noticed those physical appearance things. But he was constantly reminded of his age in a different way.
You see, Jim was a golfer. He had played golf since he was a kid, and he was very good at it. He was good enough, in fact, that he played in the ProAm round at the Jack Nicklaus Muirfield Memorial Tournament, where he performed like a pro.
Jim noticed his aging when his drives off the tee didn’t go quite as far. And then, with increased frequency his ball would hook or slice into the rough. Then his golf bag seemed to get heavier. And he started riding around the golf course in one of those golf carts. All this didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual thing, just like those guys who saw their hair turning gray.
It was entirely different for me. The realization that I was getting old didn’t come gradually. It Just hit me one day all of a sudden. Oh, I’m sure I experienced the thinning hair and gradual graying that we all go through, but just like Jim Snider, I didn’t pay much attention to that.
I had closed my office in Columbus, but I kept working out of our house in Marysville for a few clients. I was having a lot of fun writing advertising for them. I guess that’s why I never really noticed my thinning and graying hair. I was having too much fun to notice things like that.
Then came that fateful day, I think it was in 1999. I had a 1 p.m. meeting with one of those clients to review some ads I had written for some airline magazines. I got to Columbus a bit early, so I stopped at a White Castle restaurant for a quick bite to eat.
There were several cars ahead of me, so I got in line and waited. When I got to that little box where you place your order, I think I ordered two or three sliders and a soft drink. Then the lady told me how much the order came to, and I joined the line of cars to pay for my order.
When I got to the check out window the lady started to hand me my receipt, but after she looked at me, she turned and went back to her cash register. Then she handed me a new receipt as she said, “Sorry for the delay. I corrected the billing, and gave you our Senior Citizen Discount.”
Oh boy, it was like getting a mental punch in the nose. I pulled my car into an empty parking spot to eat my lunch. I sat there for a bit, fretting about how my gray hair had caused that lady to give me the senior citizen discount.
Today, of course, I am no longer concerned about gray hair. It has all turned white.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at williamboyd514@gmail.com