Stuff

A woman in her eighties tells me at the gym, “When I was your age, one just went to the gym and worked out. And these days there is so much stuff people seem compelled to carry around with them that one practically needs to move in every time one exercises.”

“Yes,” I said, removing  from my locker a backpack, a handbag, a briefcase, and a plastic bag with an enormous bowl I’m returning to a colleague.

This woman was my age half a century ago. I find that absolutely fascinating. She also swims about three times faster and better than I do.