Today I feel a sense of youthfulness returning to me. I have been fortunate to meet some young people with fresh and vibrant attitudes about life. I don’t believe that their attitudes are much different than others their age. It is just that being around them  tshe youthfulness has rubbed off on me.

I have a great number of diverse friends from different cultures and ages. Daily contact with younger folks, kids in particular, has livened things up for me. I welcome this. I think it has made me think and feel younger.

My work place contains a youthful group of people. I am the oldest person there. That troubled me at first, but after getting settled in, I find it nice. My employers choose to home school their children. This puts children in the office quite a bit, since both wives of the owners work in the business; it makes for an interesting and pleasant environment.

I have enjoyed the family feeling that is offered by the children and the families in general. Working in this environment is very relaxing and stimulating at the same time. I do not spend a lot of time in the office, but when I am there it is very nice.
Sometimes as we get older we forget that to be young at heart takes someone with fresh emotions and ideas to make us realize that there are nice things about feeling young. There is not much talk of pains and all the medications that everyone is taking. Most of the conversation is about music and activities. It also gives me and all of us a chance to share our wisdom (experience from mistakes) with our younger friends.

I have learned a way to share this without preaching. At work one day we were taking a short break. We were discussing things in our lives that were foolish and funny.

I told my story, and then at a little more serious moment, I shared what I had learned from the incident and how I used it to do better. For a moment, I thought it would dampen the mood of the others. Instead it opened up similar stories. No one felt bad about sharing their stories, because I didn’t show any shame in making my mistakes. Mistakes are just opportunities to grow and learn. It is just important that we don’t waste these opportunities.

I am still learning each and everyday  from the young people in my life and of course from my contemporaries. I find that my “View From The Road” is much more gratifying as long as I keep a diverse and happy group of people in my life.

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

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