Not The Oldest Any More

I remember the first time the guys in the comic book shop called me 'Sir.' I couldn't have been thirty, and yet to them I was already well past my prime, an old dude, the kind of guy who buys the expensive back issues, the ones printed before even their fathers were born. It was true, especially the back issue part, if a comic was out on the newsstand in the past 30+ years and I don't have it, it's because I didn't want it in the first place. For the longest time I was relegated to that lofty status of 'serious collector,' competing with the middle schoolers for the latest issue of Archie Comics. But today I've cast that status aside. Why? you may ask.
   Because today I am no longer the oldest person in the comic book shop.
   My comic shop here in Pasadena is a great store, and its got a very eclectic clientele. It's a stone's throw from PCC - Pasadena City College - so there are tons of just-graduated high school kids, and then are slightly older people, guys in their 20s with a little disposable income. And there are chicks too, not just the ones dragged inside by their boyfriends. And men and women about my age, who really grew up with the advent of comics as a semi-serious medium, and then there are the old dudes. I mean older than me old dudes.
   A few of them write for television sitcoms, the guys in the store have told me as much, and at least one is a physician, and several are money managers. So I'm reasonably confident I haven't been the oldest in the comic shop for quite some time. But today I saw the guy that confirmed my suspicions (hopes?). He was short, thick, and with shiny white hair and a shiny white beard to match. Cut short so it's easy to manage.
   He was behind me in line, and I didn't see him until I had paid and was about to leave, but when I saw him I almost heaved a sigh of relief. Seriously, I almost shook his hand because he had taken over my status as Oldest Man in the Comic Shop. And he's taken it over by long shot, so I'm not gonna regain that title any time soon. What a relief.
   Now if I can just get someone to take my title of Most Indecisive Person in the Doughnut Store...