My husband turned 58 last week. Not sure when we got old enough for him to be that old. (I’m the child bride, you know. At least that’s my story and I’m stickin to it.) I remember when he turned 40, I just couldn’t believe I was married to “someone that old”. Then I turned 40 and it didn’t seem quite so …well, old.

I was thinking about it today. I still think of myself as about 27. I loved being 27. And if I’m not paying attention, I still FEEL 27. Did I get stuck there somehow? So I started wondering about it. Does everyone “stay” a certain age in their life? Is it because of where you were or an event, like a marker, that occurred? Was it just because I liked being 27?

I think it was because that was a really pivotal time in my life. I was really an adult: I was married, had my first child, had a good job, had a confidence about who I was and who I was going to be. (Maybe that was born from youthful ignorance.) But it was also a happy time. I loved watching my daughter grow up. The changes in babies are so fast and myriad that it’s just awesome to observe. There were lots of possibilities.

Maybe it’s because I’d just lost my mom. Maybe I stayed there with that emotional scar. I don’t think about it being sad. I LIKED that time! But maybe it was a combination of things…maybe that was the best of me? Like a peak prformance?

I know I have fought growing older. No growing old gracefully for me! I HATE not seeing without 1.50+ readers (glasses, whippersnappers, glasses). Having to chase a pair down & Fred making fun of me having 6 pair laying around in various rooms. And the middle age spread! Yuck! And I’m not exactly proud of the gray hair hidden under my color (that is a secret we’re not going to talk about.) Mark Twain said in Following the Equator, that “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.” That’s a really nice sentiment….until you see the wrinkles in the mirror and then you’re thinking: Not.

Well, I think I’ll just go on feeling 27. But trying to remember the bonus of the years from then to now. I’m so proud of the years Fred and I’ve spent together..and the children we raised and the adults they’re becoming. And the future. Good grief! There may be grandbabies in a not too distant future. And a second career! One that I do because I want it, because it has a purpose. Just remember though, “Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.” ~Jim Fiebig

Now I ‘m hungry for ice cream!

Does that happen to you? Do you feel like you’re still a certain age? Why is that? And why does that dang mirror lie? That can’t be my old face in that mirror!