What's the Beef?

"I'm over a hundred years old, and I've never had an accident," proclaimed the wizened woman in the bank.

She was having a gripe-fest with the teller, and, because I couldn't help it, I had to listen in.

"My son wants me to quit driving. The insurance company is raising my rates like I'm a teenager. I'm a good driver. Why do I have to pay more to drive my car?"

I looked out the window toward my vehicle and sent up a silent wish that I hadn't parked anywhere near her. Maybe she hadn't ever had an accident. Maybe she couldn't remember. Either way, it seemed like she was tempting fate. And she'd be leaving the bank before me.

"The other teller got this deposit wrong," the woman continued. "I gave her everything, I just don't know how she could have messed it up."

The current teller spoke soothingly, trying to give a simple explanation as to how the mishap could have occurred. Apparently, there was no harm done, and the woman's banking was completed without further incident. Although she did continue to rant through the processing of her transactions.

I began to wonder, as I waited my turn, if I would live to be that old, and if so, would I be that cranky? Was the woman always irascible, or was this an age-related thing?

Also, I wondered about her son. If she was 100, he was probably somewhere between 65 and 80 years old himself. Meaning he had his own health issues to worry about. What was his frame of mind? Did he get along with her, or did he sit at home and watch "Throw Mama From the Train" over and over?

This is the way I'm wired, I guess. I watch life's little dramas unfold, and I wonder about the strangers who put their lives out there, unaware that they are being emotionally dissected by a random observer.

I suppose my takeaway from the incident was to hope that, if I do reach a ripe old age, I am as in control of my faculties as the old bird appeared to be, but without the poison. Yes, I realize that, given my present level of snarkiness, it seems unlikely I will grow old without that "get off my lawn, you rotten kids" thing going on.

I just hope I could still find things to laugh about. And love about. And wonder about in this crazy world of ours.

Then, I wouldn't mind hanging around so long.