You who read this column regularly and see my photograph wonder, I know, “How does he do it? How does he keep so youthful?” Some of you have accused me of continuing to use my old college graduation picture. I can understand your dismay. When I look at my picture, I also see the impish twinkle of the eye, eager jut of the jaw, windblown visage—forget the hair. I pepper my columns with hip, up-to-date jargon. Well, the secret is that I have lots of children and young in my life. They help keep me youthful.

     Longtime readers know from my crowing about it that my wife, Judy, and I have a daughter who was born when we were in our mid forties. Her name is Susannah and she just had her 21st birthday. She will graduate in a few weeks from Pfeiffer University where she is finishing in 3 years. We are thrilled with that and also with the news that she has been named the “Outstanding Senior Woman” for the year. So I sent an email to our granddaughter Jenny who lives in Nashville to tell her about Susannah’s honor. Jenny is 2 years older than her aunt Susannah! And I asked her to pass along the news to her brother John who is also a few months older than his aunt! John is learning how to be an electrician.

     She wrote me back to say, “This is absolutely wonderful about Susannah! Tell her that I said congrats!” Then she reported that Matt—her boyfriend who is a neophyte race car driver has placed in the top 5 finishers in 3 of his last 5 races. Then she reminded me that they just celebrated their second anniversary. Then she announced that she had a new kitten—an orange and white tabby. She named the little fellow Maynard. Things are going really well for Jenny. Then she said, “John did get electrocuted at work the other day but he is ok now.” Wait just a minute! John got electrocuted? Then her closing line was her usual, “Well, I hope everyone is fine. I will call you later this weekend. Love you guys!!!!”

     In her exuberance, she made a slight error in her choice of words. It would have been better to say, “John got a shock at work.” This would have prevented the shock to Grandpa’s pacemaker! When we spoke with her, she found the report as hilarious as we had. Her letter reminded me of some of the letters from children reporting on how things were going at summer camp. They are filled with routine reports from their daily lives and then they drop in some scary detail that makes Mom’s and Dad’s jaws drop. They usually go something like this: “Dear Mom and Dad, The forest ranger asked us to write home in case you heard on the news about the big fire up here in Camp Summer Serenity. It was an exciting experience. Especially when the bears running from the flames came roaring right through our camp. We also saw two gray wolves down at the lake. We got far enough out in the water so they didn’t bother us. We are on our way back to camp from the hospital. When the bears came through, Kenny climbed our totem pole. It fell over and broke his arm but he has a neat cast on it now. Summer camp is great! And we are fine. Don’t worry about us. Love, your son.”

     Ah, how I love these kids—and their friends too! That’s a great thing about young people, they have friends. They are everywhere and they can introduce you to others. This stuff will fill you with zest for life. Of course, sometimes it gets a little embarrassing with kids. They don’t embarrass me, but I am sure that sometimes I embarrass them with my antics. I hope so; I work very hard at it now that I’m in my second childhood. Just wait until I get to my second adolescence. It will be a sight to behold! So, hang out with some young people. If you can’t find any, I’ll lend you some of mine!

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