I've always believed there is no such thing as "too old."

Life is an attitude, and my attitude is every age is a good one. Plus, I'm a bit surprised to find that the older I get, the happier I am with life.I was always sure I wasn't going to ever let the phrase "too old" apply to me.I cringe when I hear people say they want to try something new but they are "too old.""Too old" is a state of mind, one best avoided.Yet, here I am, enjoying my morning ritual of reading the morning paper while I savor my first cup of coffee of the day. As I leaf through the paper, I hear myself say, "I'm too old."Looking at the crowds that stood in line for hours to scoop up Black Friday bargains, I shake my head and say, "I'm too old to do that."I'm not sure if I mean I'm too old or I'm too smart. All I know is that years ago (many, many years ago) I might have been happy joining the shopping crowd on Black Friday.That has changed.For the past year I've known I was going to replace that old, heavy console TV that sits on my lanai where we watch TV.I got the TV secondhand from a friend who wanted a newer model. He told me it would "work for a little while" while I figured out what I wanted for a replacement.Four years later the set is still working. I kept waiting for it to break because my husband believes it's next to sinful to buy something new just because we want to. If the old one works, he says, that's good enough.When my designer-savvy daughter came to visit, she mentioned how my room would be much more functional if I bought a slim TV for the wall and moved the sofa to create a cozy TV watching area. It would mean more than one or two people could watch TV at the same time, which is about the limit of my present setup.Ever since she said it I've been planning to buy the new TV and make the changes she recommended. She's right. I can make the room a lot more functional.Since I wasn't in a hurry to replace the TV, I planned to do it Thanksgiving weekend when I could get the best bargains on a new TV. A consumer can save hundreds by shopping at the right time.Sure enough, the stores were advertising tempting sales with TV prices much lower than I have seen all year. There's only one catch: I would have had to fight the bargain-hunting crowds.Our local paper noted that to get the best prices, we would have to get there before 6 a.m. because of the limited supply. Some slept on the pavement overnight to get one of the 50-inch TVs for $150.Because I'm too old for those games, I bought the model I wanted a few days before Black Friday, thinking I would be paying a bit more than I would on Great Stampede weekend.I was surprised to see the price I paid was exactly what was advertised later on that particular model.Yes, I know, many did get great bargains by joining the shopping crowd. They had fun and can now brag about their bargains. I counter with my new line of defense: I'm too old for that.I'll tell you exactly how old I am.I am too old to know any of the celebrities in People magazine.I have no idea why, but that magazine is the one most often found in my doctors' offices. If I'm bored with waiting and leaf through it, I find I don't know any of the so-called celebrities.I'm too old, I guess.But I'm not too old for the Internet, the source of much valuable information. Some of that "information," however is pointless.Yahoo is the home page I use, but I question its version of news. Yesterday's "news" included a story on a movie star who made a public appearance in a short skirt and no underwear.Is that "news?"Why would I care?I care as much about that as I do about the latest Kardashian divorce, birth, affair or other kind of so-called Kardashian news.I'm too old to call that news.I'm too old to care about celebrities or sports figures behaving badly.Tell me a sweet story about someone doing good or achieving something great despite the odds against it.Then I'll care.I'll never be too old to appreciate those feel-good stories.There are some great things that come with being "too old."I'm too old to carry a grudge, too old to pass judgment on neighbors, too old to join in the conversation about someone's perceived shortcomings.I'm too old to give in to herd mentality, too old to go along with the thinking of the crowd when another side of the story needs to be told.I'm too old to abandon doing what I think is right and too old to waste one day of this precious thing we call life.I guess there are some advantages to being "too old."