Aging

I’m old. I’ve always been able to admit it. When you are young, even in High School, old is anyone 25 or older. Most people keep adjusting that date back as they approach it. When they turn 20, they make old 30 or older. When they get to 30, old has become 40 or 50. When that age is reached, old gets slid back to 70 or 80.

Not I. Even as I passed it, the quarter-century mark clearly delineated the Young from the Old. Crossing the half-century mark moves one into the Very Old age group. Anyone able to survive against entropy and make it into the three-quarter century mark becomes Ancient or Venerable.

When I was young, the big dates were always close together. At 5, you start school. At 10, you are in the double digits. At 13, you become a teenager. At 16, you can get a drivers license. At 18, you can drink and vote. At 20, you are no longer a teenager. At 21, you are able to drink across all the States. At 25, you cross the first quarter-century mark and are no longer young. After that the only dates that are big are 30, 40, 50, and then 55/60/65 depending on when you retire. In between those dates, I have to do the math to figure out how old I am – let’s see current year minus year I was born equals age.