How many years have YOU been on the loose?

Oooh, I agree, McK. Mine are 19 and 18 and so much fun. They are really fabulous people. They were unbelievably cute as babies, toddlers and grade-schoolers, but this is a new level of wonder.

I look forward to seeing what they end up doing with their lives. The only problem is... they'll probably move out.

Am I supposed to say how old I am??? I'm 51. Does anybody care?

Piffka- Sure we care! I think that if we share a little of ourselves, it makes the site much more interesting!

Okay... well I'm 51, but I'll be 52 in 36 days... December 17th, which is great time to have a birthday. Exactly one week before Christmas Eve, my favorite day. Then another week and it's New Year's Eve!!

Because I was born at the half-century and the end of the year, I get a leetle beet cornfuzzled about how old I am. E.g., I told Diane in April when we were in Tucson, that I was 52. (HEY, it was 2002, right?) I am an anticipator.

Wait a few years. Then you will want to clip a year or two off the other end!

Well, I used to say I felt like 17, but now that my kids are a bit older, I'm more of a 23. I forget, how old did you say you were? You said 23, too, right?

I've always been old. I just didn't realize it until I passed 40. Somehow, somewhere, I got the idea that I wouldn't make it beyond that mark. I was impatient and poked my nose into everything. If the foolishness of the world was to be fixed, then I had to do it fast. Believing that I had to cram a lifetime into that span, I was fiercely and foolishly brave. "Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse".

When 40 came and went without my demise, I was first amazed and then relieved to be living in Bonus Time. For a couple of decades there I was really productive -- just played the game. Caring, but not too much, everything seemd to go my way. I ate too good food, drank too much single malt, and began to more deeply ponder the lessons of youth.

Now that I'm retired and in my sixties (09MAR41), I feel like I'm reaping rewards far beyond those I've earned. Life is grand, but if I die today it will be Okay.

Piffka-28 Old enough to have some life experience, but young enough to act like a kid.

Asherman- I too am in my 60s, and it would be definitely NOT ok if I died today. I think that I have at least another 25 productive years ahead of me, and then maybe I will calm down, and be an old lady!

You must be old Asherman I have not heard the live fast die young quote for a long time. But is was the rallying cry for me in my wasted youth. So I have to assume that we a close to the same old age.

I hope to be twenty-eight someday-- just like you!! But please, Phoenix, don't calm down, OK?

Asherman, I feel as you do, I've had such a wonderful life that if it were to end prematurely (if one can say that after five decades), then I have little cause for complaint. I remember a friend who truly thought life would be over at 40. It was frightening when we were in our twenties. Hmmm, still is!

However, I'm still going strong and enjoying it all. I had a horrible scare from a False Positive reading on a stress test this summer, so I've got a brand new thrill for life. I won't be twenty-eight for another decade!

Piffka, when we were in Tucson this spring, we were both 18.
Isn't it funny how your age can seem different depending on the situation? When we and other abuzzers got together, we were young during that time, ready to explore the world.

I guess part of it has to do with sharing special moments with someone you care for. Watching the sunrise at Gate's Pass was all the more wonderful because we shared it with friends. At times like that, age just slips away.

I am eight years older than piffka. When we were young, I could have been her baby sitter, but not her close friend. One of the many wonderful things about middle age is that chronological age no longer makes any difference.

I think seattlefriend and I were the elders of that group with ehBeth being the youngest, so there was quite a span, yet no one gave it a thought.

Good points, Diane. There is a gigantic difference between a new-born infant and a 12-year-old kid. There is still an appreciable difference between an 18-year-old and a 30-year-old. But there really is no appreciable difference between a 50-year old and a 62-year old. Or 40 and 52. It all evens out.

And it serves to make our lives much richer.

Most definitely! I'm looking at some pix i picked up today - the energy of the group makes us all feel and look so young and RICH!

ehBeth??? Pictures from New York????

We have a little 'game' that we play at the office.... your age is your birthdate.... My birthday is on the 15th of the month, so my age is 15.

I like that game, P&L -- that makes me a mere toddler at age 3!

19?

i'd rather be 45 than 19. I was very stupid at 19. Thought I knew everything. Turned out I knew just enough to be stupid.

ehBeth- Egads, was I a dunderhead at 19. Didn't know which end was up!

Frightening, isn't it.

Oh my God, we're back to 1959 and I'm 13 years old. I can't do this again!

13 just may be the very worst possible age of all. Poor Lola.