Aging Beats the Alternative

Image on a postcard pinned in my mother’s room

On my 30th birthday nearly a decade ago, I paraphrased this old saying in response to a typical joke from someone about me getting older. The other person looked at me quizzically: “What do you mean it beats the alternative? Isn’t the alternative to getting older, getting younger?”

“Uh, no. The alternative would be dying.” I said to my birthday well-wisher.