Some of my friends commented that Harry the “Cheermudgeon” was too “mudgeonly” in my most recent Blogrige post. So I decided it was time to cheer. Here is a cheer to getting older. The topic came to me this past week, when I was given a senior-citizen discount at the supermarket without asking for it—despite the fact that I don’t look a day over 30! (I didn’t know the discount even existed until my wife told me.)

Another great joy of getting older is substituting grand-parenting for parenting. This summer we had the pleasure of giving our kids a break and hosting our granddaughters (in shifts with some overlap) for almost three weeks. At the end we were exhausted, but it was awesome. They are 3, 6, and 10 years old, and a real change after raising two sons.

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