When I was in my twenties, getting close to thirty, I thought you were over the hill at age forty; but now that I’m fifty, pushing on to sixty, I’ve seen seventy-year-olds who are pretty frisky. I’ve seen them in the marathon with fast-moving feet, and yet - I’ve seen others barely making it across the street.

That's when I began to realize that old folks come in different conditions and sizes, and shapes and situations, and I found out that old folks ain’t all the same.

They’re not cranked out by a Xerox machine, some are rich…lots are poor and plenty in between.. Some been married to number one forty years or more; and some are on number two, or three, or four…and still looking for the right one to come along.

Some listen to symphonies, some to pop. Some like Dixie and some be-bop; some like waltzes, others like soul, and some of these old folks can rock and roll or do the conga or the rhumba or the jitterbug. But let’s face it - some of these old folks have two left feet and can’t dance with a hoot.

Some old folks are talkers, some quiet as a mouse, some are smilers, others grump and grouse and when reminiscing about their youth, some lie like hell while others tell the truth.

Some are worn out at sixty-five, others full of beans, like to jump and jive, take trips around the world - ramble and roam, while others like the old folks at home… Sitting in the old rockin’ chair, thinking about the grandchildren, sipping iced tea while watching some crappy show on TV. Some old folks are fat, some are thin and some have whiskers on their chin; some eat rice and some like pasta. Some play bridge and some canasta; some go bare-headed and some wear hats, some are Republicans, some Democrats; some watch soap operas, some watch sports and some watch only the weather reports - Especially if they live in Florida or Arizona. They just love to hear the weatherman say: “A blizzard has just blanketed Chicago with fourteen inches of snow and New York City is paralyzed from a freezing rain which has caused hundreds of accidents in the heart of Manhattan.”

We’ve got old people who are record breakers, history makers, movers and shakers; we’ve got old people who are overachievers, world leaders, eager beavers… pictures in the paper, names in the history books, see ‘em on the television interviewed by Dan Rather and Barbara Walters. Then we’ve got old people spent a lifetime working in a factory or down in a mine, worked hard every day, never made any news. They did their jobs, they paid their dues...raising their families, making their contribution, nothing sensational…just helping to build the nation.

Now the only point that I’m trying to make is always remember for heaven’s sake, old folks are not made on the assembly line. They’re as different as your mother is from mine. Each one has an individual name, and all old folks just aint the same.