Curmudgeon

 

I’m a curmudgeon, but not like you think. Most agree to define a curmudgeon as a cranky old miser who doesn’t get along with anyone or anything just raising flak about everything.

Let me refrain that definition.

I’m not cranky. I am old. A miser probability fits my monetary usage, but I think I get along with people and I work hard not to complain about anything (there is enough of that out there).

The reason that I’m a curmudgeon is that I just don’t fit in with the culture. I don’t go to movies (or rent or stream). I don’t read books. I don’t go out to restaurants. I don’t drive. I don’t play games. I don’t shop. I don’t follow fashion. I don’t cook. I don’t play with children or have pets. I don’t garden. I don’t like (most) current music. I don’t dance (anymore). I don’t have romance. I vote but pay no attention to politics. I don’t watch TV.

You get the trend? I’m a curmudgeon.

Now I am aware of the world around me and can converse on a somewhat intellectual level with someone else until they bore me. When inspired, can be investigative or creative to the point of recording musical musings or writing dystrophic thoughts from theatrical dreams that no one else sees. I still have some skill of putting pen to paper to draw a line and create an image of a word or an idea or just letters jumbled together to fill in the puzzle.

As an isolationist, I do try to avoid other’s drama. The drama that is the interest of the daily news or the gossip of cocktail parties or church socials but never appears on the obituary pages. I also don’t share whatever drama I remember unless someone else probes.

The digital technology has allowed us to stay apart and still stay in communication without breathing in each other’s face. We do stay healthier when we stay apart (especially with those munchkins who are scurrying germ machines).

I still like puppies and kittens (as long as they don’t sleep in my bed) and try to be polite to the common folk I interact during the day, but being a hermit doesn’t mean I’m a curmudgeon.

Being of an age and time when the end is near, one measures the time spent with others. Senseless bladder may fill the space but what looks like boredom is interesting. No need to wear a watch when your entertainment is your neighbors enjoying your buffet singing for their dinner.

So if I appear a curmudgeon with my ratty sweats and over-worn shoes with silver locks, I’m smiling under the face bush and appreciation your interaction.