We can all feel pretty good about ourselves most of the time with tidy observations about ourselves and our own qualifying affirmations about ourselves that give us value and worth - that is until we are caught square in the sights of a four year old, a purely blistering place to get caught. Part of the blistering heat is the fact that the observations are based on fact as seen, not prejudiced with predeterminations of any kind.

It happened to me last Sunday. Two of the little cuties were playing at the bottom of a stairwell. Hey look watch this they say and bound from the second step to the floor, nearly bouncing as they land, so pliable and fresh they are. Ooooooh, say I, wow! I can't do that. We know, one dear one says - because you're old. You're old like my grandma ... and away they went.

Well, fact is, I am at least as old as their grandma, but how could they not be fooled? Don't they see how well I've taken care to get it together every morning to face the day?. Don't they see youthful edge that prompts folks to remark that they don't know how old I am but I look younger than that? Sheesh ...

The hardest part of the sight of a four year old is that it is truly reflective of truth. Am I bothered by a snarly twenty-something who disregards me because I am old? Some, but not as with the four year old. The twenty-something type is loaded with all sorts of disregard - with which I myself was once loaded - and it's easier to chalk their purpose limiting observations of my age up to being their problem. But these guys in the stairwell called it. They still liked me, still thought I had some value I guess. Point was, I just couldn't jump those stairs cause I'm old.