Image created using photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Nana: Good heavens, it’s you again. I know that look. You’re here to bore me to death. I wonder how many good years I have lost, because of my interactions with you.

Nina: Nonsense.

Nana: It’s true. My hair did not even start graying until you were born, and now I’m almost bald.

Nina: Almost? Seriously? Anyway, it’s not just about how long you live, especially when you’re a few thousand years old, like you probably are.

Nana: How rude.

Nina: What really matters is the quality of life.

Nana: And mine has rapidly deteriorated since I’ve had to put up with you.

Nina: You’re mistaken Nana. I’m the reason you are still active. You have me to thank for your sharp wit and acerbic tongue.

Nana: How do you figure?

Nina: I just read an article

Nana: Here we go again.

Nina: And you complain about me being disruptive? You’re the one who keeps interrupting me.

Nana: Hey, wasn’t I sitting quietly and reading the newspaper, when you barged in?

Nina: Only to improve your quality of life.

Nana: That’s highly subjective young Drama Queen.

Nina: The article I read says that the secret to staying young even when you are old, lies in spending lots of time with young people. Every minute you spend with me helps you stay young Nana. That’s a fact. You owe me big time. Very few old people like you are lucky enough to be able to regularly interact with youngsters like myself.

Nana: Balderdash!

Nina: Is not! What we have is called an inter-generational friendship Nana. Look here, it says so.

Nana: Let me see the article.

<Nana reads for a moment>

Nana: Ah I see here that you benefit immensely from this inter-generational friendship as you like to call it. I owe you nothing.

Nina: Fine, but now you have to spend a lot more time with me, and to do your part properly, you need to be irrationally crazy about me, as the article says. Capisce, Nana?

Nana: I’d have to be irrational and crazy to spend any time at all with you.

Nina: Yipeee!! I know that’s your way of agreeing Nana. So what should we do now? Let’s get started , right away. No point procrastinating, right? We can play Pictionary or Scrabble, or how about Hangman?

Nana: Hangman sounds about right. <sigh>

Nina: Remember that Bob Dylan song Nana,

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young

I wish you all a wonderful year ahead. May you indeed stay, forever young. In the past year, I am thankful for all the extra time I got to spend with my girls. I bet it made me a lot younger. It certainly feels that way as we animatedly discuss the Mahabharata, the Harry Potter Series, the beauty of pi, do jigsaw puzzles, build wacky routes with the toy train tracks, play board games and do the Macarena. What about you? How are you staying forever young?

This post is a part of the #NinaAndNana series I co-host with Lavanya Srinivasan. Her posts can be found here.