Dear Reader:

As a teacher and mother I have been as guilty as anyone else of misusing the phrase “Act your age please!”  

One too many “So and so started it…why aren’t you yelling at so and so…why do you always pick on me?” and our last vintages of self-control fly out the window…as we practically wreck the car trying to push one child away from their other sibling and still steer. I remember yelling over my shoulder “For Heavens Sake….please act your age” (which in retrospect they were actually doing…kids being kids.)

All it took in the classroom was one wise crack too many…and with 13-year-olds there were always a lot of wisecracks…(this age specializes in them) to set me off on my tangent of “Good grief…I didn’t know I was teaching elementary school…instead of eighth grade…why can’t you act your ages?” ( Which again they were pretty much doing! 🙂 )

Lately as I look in the mirror each morning…I think to myself…“How old am I?” I mean…I do know my actual chronological number but I wish someone way back when…perhaps my mother or aunt or grandparent had taken me aside one day when I was growing up and said…

“Becky one day you will look in the mirror and realize that the face staring back at you is not the chronological age you feel inside. Now remember this…always stay young in your thoughts and actions…because they are the only indicators that can truly age you.”

I read this stat the other day on aging and found it encouraging…Among respondents ages 65-74, just 21% say they feel old. Even among those who are 75 and older, just 35% say they feel old. Most seniors when asked for a specific number on what age they truly feel most days inside…is somewhere in their early forties.

It appears that our aging mechanism (that dwells within our subconscious) slows down and stops somewhere in the forties… even when the physical process keeps grinding away at us.

I am sure photos taken of many Clemson and LSU fans last night would have shown just how agile and athletic we can all become, regardless of age, jumping on and off sofas (or the lucky ones-bleachers)…hiding our eyes behind our fingers and then spreading them apart to peek occasionally, squeezing stress Clemson tiger balls….yep…I imagine there were a lot of people not acting their ages last night…and isn’t that wonderful?

So until tomorrow…Madeleine L’ Engle said:

“If we limit ourselves to the age we are, and forget all the ages that we have been, we diminish our truth.”

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Regardless of how things played out at the end of the game…these stats are probably in the big picture even more important in life to these young athletes. (See academic and happy standards later in the post)

*I did my part- I checked off all my ritual get-ready list items!

Candles, last year’s magazine article (hoping today…it will read…”Too Too Good to be True”  (My Clemson Christmas tree Tiger and “All In” SC state ornament hanging from my mantle.) Check!

Pizza at Castillos...eaten before every Clemson game with my Clemson neighbors… Check!

Sausage dip complete and ready to take to Sam and Donna’s along with the orange noses and stress Clemson Tiger ball! Check!

*Okay Clemson…the “Boo” has done her part ….now go get’em! Roar!

#7  Happiest Students (Princeton Review)

Academically Higher than many other colleges with outstanding football programs. (As a parent this is what I would be looking for!)

I took time to ride around Summerville and on the 13th of January Spring was popping out all over…blooming flower and fruit trees …and in the midst of this a GIANT CLEMSON HELMET in someone’s front yard. Go Clemson Tigers…Go Summerville!

Donna gave me a fan that fits into an iPhone and blows on you when things get too “hot”! Believe me I needed that fan last night…Thanks Donna! Perfect gift!

One of Clemson’s cutest little loyal fans was putting toothpicks in his eyes I believe…but he continued to express his belief that Clemson Tigers were number one in his book… win or lose. Ditto Rutledge! We love our Clemson Tigers forever don’t we cutie? No fair weather fans in our family…just proud supporters!

*Take notice….this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the team…with over 50% of its team members…freshmen…if this was a rebuilding year…watch out world…the Tigers are on the prowl! 🙂