You Should Be Asleep

I'm often amazed at what my brain chooses to focus on as I go through the activities which make up my life. I never seem to take any particular notice to the things most people would consider to be extremely odd and instead my eyes immediately focus on the slightly off things which occur around me. This one happened the other night: I was heading out of Boston after an unsuccessful attempt at bowling, but a very successful night of watching movies instead. (Short version of a much longer story: we put our names in and were told it was a 100-200 minute wait to get a lane. After an hour I went up to check the progress and was told there were 18 groups still ahead of us, at which point we gave up. So much for priority lanes for people who order dinner, eh King's?) Anyway, as I was walking to my car I passed an old man on the street. Now, this was not one of those simply 'too old to be in the bar trying to pick up college girls and it's sad that you are even trying' kind of deals. This guy had to be in his late 70s. That isn't just too old to be at the bar, that is too old to be awake at that time. As you can imagine, this guy was fascinating to me.

I've always believed that there is a point at which "tonight" becomes "tomorrow morning". While the exact time this happens can be left up to each person's individual standards, my internal clock says it happens about 3:30 AM. While the time that I saw this man was well before that, it was not as thought it as early evening. Occasionally we talk on this blog about what activities are appropriate for which age and I happen to believe there are times which are appropriate for certain ages as well. Just as an example, when you are out on the roads at 5 AM the majority of the people out are either delivering newspapers or trying to get to the pharmacy as soon as it opens for business. Either way, it is not a young mix of people. Similarly, when you are leaving the bar at 1 AM, you expect to only have to deal with a very specific mix of people: cab drivers, med students on their way home and the college kids and single people who are leaving the same bars. That is about it, which means the range of people's ages goes from about 20-39. As you can imagine, seeing a guy who was near 80 was almost as shocking as if I had gone onto the street and discovered a 10 year-old walking around.

I know the cliche about old people going to bed super-early and waking up even earlier, but even with that in my mind, this was a little ridiculous. I almost wanted to ask this guy if he should be out this late, but he was clearly dressed for being outside on a cold night with a thick coat and good hat. Also, his well-pressed pants caught my eye. This man was clearly just up for the day. I would have thought he was on his way to Church if he wasn't going to be about 6 hours too early for the first service. By the time I got to my truck and turned around I saw he had begun collecting the various free papers which were available and then he continued to shuffle his way down the street. Apparently, he just wanted something to read. The only theory this left me with was he is currently visiting from the Old Country (doesn't really matter which one) and is not interested in adjusting to the time difference. Seeing as how he may have been born before it was put in to place, I can understand why he would be hesitant to conform.

Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule and this older gentleman could have had plenty of legitimate reasons to be wandering the streets of Brookline at 1 AM on Saturday night. (The truly scary thought which occurred to me later is that the trains had stopped running by that time, so if he was on his way somewhere he was most likely driving.) Either way, it doesn't change the fact that he was the oldest person on the street by at least 40 years and stuck out like a sore thumb. It was as though he was coming in to break up the party his grandson had thrown. I feel as though I am qualified to speak for a large group of people, so I'd like to propose a deal to the octogenarians in the audience - how about anyone who isn't on their way to work or school promises to stay off the road before 5 AM and you guys stay home after midnight? That way you guys can do your errands without as many cars on the road and the rest of us don't have to worry you've wandered out of your house without supervision. I just feel as though it would be better for everyone involved.