Emily, 20

Yesterday, I was going to the bathroom in Starbucks. It’s in Harvard Square, on the second floor, and you need a code to unlock it. I was patiently waiting, when as the person on the inside came out, an old woman ran forward, seemingly out of nowhere, into the bathroom “Oh thank god, thank goodness!” she yelled. I was confused at first to why she cut me in line, and then she told me there were two bathrooms inside. She started yelling out loud how she really had to pee and came all the way from Allston. I was merely trying to just use the bathroom, but she convinced me to converse with her. She told me she was 64 years old, and how being old is awful. I didn’t really know what to say as I rolled the toilet paper roll. “You have to use the bathroom every two seconds, it’s the worst.” She was muttering for about 30 seconds to herself, until she said “Don’t become old like me, stay young.” This sentence was interesting to me, because she said it as if being old was a choice. If somehow, someday, in 44 years, I would not be 64 myself. I asked her how do you stay young, and she said you have to be smart with where you are and what you have. She told me that earlier in the night she was with a friend, and she got “locked up.” I told her I was sorry, because at this point I was really just trying to wash my hands, but she told me her friend was in the wrong place at the wrong time and always getting into trouble. I told her I really had to go, and she told me to have a blessed night.