O.M.O.C.

Not that I need them but there are daily reminders of how much older I am than my fellow med students. There's the lengthy lunch-time discussions about Mario Cart that I can't participate in or the blank stare when I mention TJ Hooker. Not to mention being above the fray when couplings are discussed; I simply sit there enjoying the drama in a pleasantly detached position. It's not that I don't remember having been there but I just don't miss it. In fact, I am amazed that anyone can put up with the demands of medical school and still have any social life at all!

It is nice to give some advice from my aged perspective and I'm sure I give way too much of it but I don't think I could stop. Why? Because I genuinely care for these people. I want them to succeed and I want to be part of it, so I give advice. Or, maybe I'm just a pompous ass..... anyway I know people will take what they need from my missives and leave the rest - they didn't get into medical school by being automatons.

My lab group decided to name ourselves "Kelly's Kids". I thought we should have been "Gluteal Cephalic" but I lost. So, we now sound like a charity telethon. I'm touched by this show of affection even if it's a jab at my age. The funniest moment came in geriatrics lab when I was presenting our group discussion and a student from across the room made a comment about being close to geriatric myself. The room erupted in laughter, myself included.

The discussion was interesting. Being "close to geriatric" I listened to these men in their mid to late 20's talking about the elderly and remembering feeling the same way when I was younger. Once you're over 70, your elderly and becoming frail, you need people to talk a little slower or you become wise somehow. I don't think 70 sounds so old anymore and I've know enough people in their 60's, 70's and 80's to know a few things about the 'elderly'. First, grumpy old men were grumpy young men second, stupid people don't ever get wise with age and a retired NASA engineer will understand more of what you say than a 20-something college grad.

I'm enjoying my unique position among this amazing group of young people, or as I call myself: The O.M.O.C. Old Man On Campus.