A beach town on steroids

From the comments written by visitors to this site, I have become aware of a potential third reader to my blog. In theory this should be a positive development but it makes me realize that I may have been targeting my writings to the subgroup of the population that is aware of what I mean by the AARP lifestyle. Trying to be more inclusive, I’ll spell out my definitions of the different groups of people according to their AARP status.

• Super-AARP – Individuals with at least 15 years of AARP experience and that exhibit a pulse on at least 5 days of the week.
• Card-holding-AARP – Individuals 50 or above that embrace being 50.Other finer definitions may subdivide this group from the “cheap-skate AARP” which includes card-holding members that are only looking for the AARP discounts but keeping the AARP cards in their closets.
• AARP-in-denial – Individuals that fully qualify for card-holding status but lie to themselves and friends about having ever received a membership invitation.
• AARP-in-training – Individuals 46 y.o. or above that can already see the lights of the train-wreck that is about to happen. They often require and appreciate help from a more senior member on proper AARP behaviors.
• Future-AARP – Individuals that when asked the meaning of AARP have no clue about what it stands for or the significance of it’s meaning. This is really the bulk of the population, but who’s counting.

This may not be exhaustive but hopefully it could give my new (Future-AARP) reader some level of understanding since everything in this blog is written from my (AARP-approved) point of view.

This week has been another unusual week in that we decided to drive to Norfolk, VA for a two-day business meeting. Well, at least the AARP-in-training amongst us had business to do there; the other one went for the ride. It was a very AARP-qualified trip in that I only drove on small secondary roads and only during daylight hours with no rush-hour traffic in sight. One of the highlights of the trip was able to stop in several northeastern North Carolina towns such as Edenton, Washington, New Bern and able to see the sights, walk the streets in front of their historic waterfront homes and renovated buildings.

The whole area of Norfolk, Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton and Virginia Beach is not unlike our own Emerald Isle area but with about 200 more years of development and military investment. It felt as a beach town on steroids. Everything that we have here is there but kicked up to the 10^th degree, the F/A 18 Hortnet jets from the Oceana Naval Air Base roared through the sky more often and more imposing than our Harrier Jets, the boats around the bay were aircraft carriers, the bridges and tunnels around the city made for a more involved trip to the Post Office. Virginia Beach was also a lot more than the name implies but at this time of the year it seemed just as empty as Emerald Isle. The Virginia Beach Boardwalk was like our bicycle path but so much bigger that it even had separate lanes for bikes and walkers. What a luxury!

Still, it was good to return home. Maybe to detoxify ourselves from the big city environment, and even though we had driven right in front of the E.I. Post Office on our way home, we got home, unpacked and got back on our bicycles to quietly pick up our mail and assess the litter situation on the trails before turning in for the evening. This is definitely more AARP-like.