How many times this week have you been asked, "How was your break?"

So many that you've been tempted to start carrying a sign reading,"Look it was fine, OK?"

Me too.

I didn't go skiing in the Rockies, or jet off to a tropical island paradise. I didn't spend the week at home, or in State College enjoying the temporary tranquility.

But I got a glimpse of my future over break, and it doesn't look so bad after all.

I went to visit my grandparents. Not over the river and through the woods, but on a two-hour flight to Orlando and into Grandmother's arms I went.

The trip was my 21st birthday present from my parents. They graciously decided to purchase a plane ticket so I could visit Nan and Pap's house in landlocked Sebring, Fla.

I couldn't persuade any of my fun-loving friends to join me in this excursion, so I prepared myself for a week of rest and relaxation in retirement heaven. Anything would have been better than Happy Valley in February.

I never anticipated the trip actually being a lot of fun. Don't get me wrong -- my grandparents are great people. But prior to this trip, I thought of them as kind of . . . well, out of it?

My Pap is sort of the Grandpa Walton type, with a dash of Archie Bunker. And Nan is a cross between Mother Teresa and the Betty White character on the TV show Golden Girls. I wasn't sure we could really relate to each other.

But last week taught me that a little exposure to the Golden Girls and Boys can be good for a young adult's soul.

I had a blast with Nan and Pap, in ways I never would have imagined. I taught them to play "Thirty-one" Wednesday night while we were playing cards. They laughed knowingly when I finally admitted that the point of the game was to make your opponents drink rather than to rack up points.

They took me to seniors' breakfasts, where they and their friends marveled at my eating "just" a bagel and fruit, and I watched with amazement as they downed good old-fashioned pancakes, eggs and sausage.

Small things like this illuminated the differences in our lifestyles and attitudes.

They hit the sack as soon as the last prime time TV show was over and I stayed up every night watching Letterman. Consequently they were up at the crack of dawn. I'd cruise out into the kitchen around 10 every morning, ready to think about starting my day when theirs was already in full swing.

While I was out running, "plugged-in" to my "headgear" (Walkman) as my grandfather put it, he would be catnapping on the sun porch or tinkering with the car. They read Better Homes and Gardens and Mother Earth News, while I crammed for the nine million exams I have next week.

The culmination of our differences is that I'm facing the beginning of my adult life, trying to prepare for what's in store for me, and they're kicking back, sighing, "Thank God -- we made it!"

I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life and they're trying to decide where to go for dinner.

According to the cover story of this week's Newsweek, Americans are "Looking for the Fountain of Youth" in growing numbers. Plastic surgery, anti-aging creams and countless drugs and vitamins are marketed to those approaching the winter of their lives.

Youth -- that quality which we can never recover -- holds a fascination to the point of obsession for many.

But last week I realized my grandparents have passed that stage of longing for their days of youth. They're content with their simple, calm lifestyle.

No more school bills to pay, spouses to seek, life-determining decisions to make -- they're finished, and they're very content to sit back, put their feet up and relax.

Only once did I hear my Nan remark how she wished she could get out and run every day like I do. Declining health is a natural part of the aging process.

Some things, like arthritis, can't be curbed and are simply a result of the body's slow deterioration.

Both of my grandparents accept the limitations their ages place on them, but they still keep a "young" state of mind. They tackle every new day with the mental enthusiasm of 20-year-olds, and I've never heard a complaint about their age from either of them.

Maybe they're not as out of it as I had thought.