I Heart Old Men... and Shuffleboard.

Today I finished up my volunteer hours (ten hours for a social work class) at the Weak Center/Senior Citizen Center. I went expecting to help cook meals, sort paperwork, clean something, etc. Instead, I spent two hours with the dearest old men in the world, watching them play Shuffleboard. It was one of the best "time-well spent" mornings I have had in a while. It was fun to talk to people with so many good memories, watch a game being played that wasn't aggressively competitive, *chucles to self*, and constantly being handed candies while being told I was beautiful.

NOTE: To all girls who need a self-confidence boost, go to the Senior Citizen's Center. You will be fed tons of chocolate and sweets (we always love that), told that you are too pretty to be in the company of these old son-of-a-guns, and asked why you haven't married their grandsons yet.

As I'm sitting there I was suddenly hit with how much I miss my Granmpa Sooter. He died 2 years ago this month, my Freshman year of college. No, I didn't get to see him every day (almost all my family lives in California), and no, I didn't call him every other day... but I still loved my Grampa and was very close to him. And sitting there today made me think of all the good times we had feeding the seagulls or playing Rummy, and just brought back to mind all the little things I have forgotten.

Here's a list of what I observed today... all sweet and most reminded me of Grampa Sooter (I am adding just a few other observations that I found to be sweet or funny.)

• their names -- When I think of older gentlemen I think of the names that these old men had: CM, Brice, Bob, Bud, and Skeeter... My grandpa's name was Doc...
• wet, chewed-up toothpicks hanging out of the corner of a mouth...
• when sitting and crossing their legs, their slacks come up above the top of their socks...
• a folded hankerchief seen sticking out of the pocket...
• an old man with a long white beard sticking his head out of the billiards room to shout to those playing chair volleyball, "On tv all the chicks wear bikini's! Why dontcha try that! A-hee hee hee!"... he then ducks back through the doorway before all the indignant (and secretly pleased) ladies start yelling at him and calling him, "a perverted, old, buzzard!"...
• how Bud (my favorite person there) makes faces behind Skeeter's back because Skeeter just made a good shot while playing Shuffleboard...
• Brice telling me about how he went back to college after being out for 29 years... and he "bested all o' them young whippersnappers there" and made the Dean's List...
• old-knarled hands that have seen years of hard work...
• jokes that really aren't funny but everyone still howls with laughter because of the personality of the individual who told the joke...
• the slang used: "let er' rip dip!", "wild as a barn-bird", and "hang onto your teeth!"...
• old men who seem rude and crotchety, but as they walk by they stick out their tongue, cross their eyes, and wink at you -- quickly returning to their original seemingly-grouchyness before someone sees and ruins their reputation...
• Bud fake jogging back to his seat, where Elsie shouts out, "You are acting like a little boy!!" Bud then shouts back with a gruff tone, "But I AM a little boy! Yippee!" (Can anyone say "perfect candidate for the real Peter Pan"?)...
• old faded ballcaps sporting their favorite baseball team...
• talk of the good old days... and who turned out exactly like their mother or father...
• card playing... Grampa and I played cards every time we were together.
• Bob sweetly talking of  his "pretty lady" that makes me understand the phrase, "I want to grow old with you"...
• spots of dark, black coffee that was dribbled on the fronts of their old long-sleeved polos...
• hands covered with band-aids...
• CM shuffling his feet and calling it a jig...
• the smell of lefterover cigarsmoke and peppermint candies left in pockets to give to visiting children (the word "children" is not determined by age... since I came home with my pockets stuffed with gum and candy...)

Even though I left feeling like I needed to see my Grampa and knowing that I couldn't, today was a great day. Hopefully my classes next year will require more volunteer hours... if not, I might have to make a fake certificate calling myself the "Official Shuffleboard Score Keeper" and go back every once in a while.