Today as I stepped into the waiting area at the physiotherapist, I found out of the three chairs, two were occupied. The one in the center was available. I debated whether to take it or not. My back, and legs too, urged me to go for it. Take it, woman! What are you waiting for?! But the part of the brain whose duty it is to warn you of lurking dangers, cautioned me. No, don’t! Physical distancing is the watchword, remember?
As I stood there uncertainly, not knowing whom to obey, the woman sitting in the chair to the right got up and indicated that I should take her seat. For a moment I was nonplussed. Why would she offer me her seat, I wondered. I think I even mumbled something like, Oh, no please. And then it struck me. She had noticed the grays. They are proliferating on my head and in the near future will have the numbers to form a government on their own.
It is still new to me, this deference to the grays, the respect for age in action. When it happens, it takes a minute for realization to dawn. You see, though I am older, somehow I have not yet realized that I am old enough to be offered seats. Wasn’t it like yesterday that I was doing the same for elders?! Today, after the initial surprise had subsided, I acknowledged the act with thanks – the smile that accompanied it was lost behind the mask that Covid 19 has imposed on us – and gratefully slipped into the vacated chair.
The gray zone has its benefits. The back and legs agree.
© Shail Mohan 2020
The doctor has decreed that the arm sling stays for another month. The posts shall remain short ….and hopefully sweet.
Shail's Nest 
Gosh, it would be unusual here for anybody to give anything up. I am disabled, so speak from experience. I have been expected to stand up on buses before, people will not give up their seats.
Accept the benefits of age, then do a Happy Dance that they still exist 😉
I can relate to that element of surprise 🙂 When that started happening the first few times I travelled on a metro train in Delhi , Like you I would protest kindly and decline. And I was then even offering my seat to someone more in need of it , mind you, like a mother standing with a child. But then I started realising the benefits and would even manouvre my way to stand near some young girl who looked as if she was the kind who would offer her seat to me 🙂 🙂
Going grey or white carries some advantages which I am learning to accept with grace.
I get a shock every time I cook something that my mom used to cook – I can’t believe I am grown up. There is a constant tussle between my mental age and my physical age – the former being at least a couple of decades younger.
I have grey too, but not as many yet to be offered that seat, just yet.