“But I have detected in Pat the last couple of years what I regard as the detachment that comes with the acceptance of one’s advancing age. And I am there with him”
I’ve detected a different sort of change that also commonly comes with age: Xenophobic, scared, lashing out, pessimistic, doom-and-gloom.
Pat's worldview has hardly changed at all in a very long time.
Only his demeanor has changed -- become more mellow and detached, it seems to me.
If it suits you purposes to hurl at him a clichéed and insulting caricature of what it means to reach early senior status...hey, enjoy.