Age to Age

Do you remember when your parents were around 40 years old and you just thought, wow, they are old!!  I remember on my 14th birthday, my dad was 40 years old...I just thought that he was an old guy.  It if funny how I will be 34 years old this year and I really don't feel that I'm old at all. Truthfully, I'm not and I don't think 40 is old and I don't think 50 is old. Now that my parents are 60ish, I really don't consider them to be old either.  I guess I really am not sure what I feel is old....70? 80? 90?  I think we all know that I have always looked a little younger than I am, probably because of my half Thai heritage.  And I always get carded at the grocery stores, bars, and even restaurants.  I don't mind, I think it is always flattering.  I remember when I was 27 and a waitress at Helen's carded me and said 'wow, you look great for your age' and I thought...I'm 27, not 80.  I asked her how old she was and she said 18. Yep, I can see why she'd think that.  Just this past year, I was a guest speaker in two Corporate Communications Classes at Lindenwood University and being 33, I am sure they thought I was ancient.  Of course, when I take Tia to daycare and they say 'Tia's mom' that sort of puts it into perspective too. Yesterday, I think I realized that I have hit that point where younger generation Y kids would think I'm old.  Yesterday, I went to a luncheon at the Ritz for a Boys/Girls Club Fundraiser and it was mostly older women all suited up and fancy.  There were only 2% of the hundreds of attendees that were younger than me.  One set of girls walk up and a girl looks at me and says 'Hey, you are friends with my mom'. I wasn't sure if I was hearing it right and almost wanted to look behind me to see if she was talking to me and sure enough she was.  I soon realized, although the girl had jet black hair, that I had met her a while back when she had platinum blond hair because she IS the daughter of my friend Joni.  Joni is around 50ish and she bowls with me, plays cards on a regular basis with me, and we've become very close friends the past few years.  As I walked away, my colleague said wow, that is when you know you are getting older when someone says 'you are friends with my mom' and I just had to laugh really hard at myself.  The truth of the matter is that I've always enjoyed getting older.  I am not one of those who hides my birthdate or skirts the issue about age.  I have always been a person to round up and really embrace the aging process.  I was always the youngest in my classes growing up and I just had the feeling that we got better, smarter, wiser, and more financially stable as we got older, so what is not to love.  I believe we all have a destiny....a purpose....God's plan....and ultimately we'll get there one day.  We may take detours along the way that make it more in our distant future than immediate, but the more we become obedient to our goals and purpose, the closer we get.  I have enjoyed getting older and do believe that age is a state of mind.  There are 20 year olds who literally act like 50 year olds. There are 40 year olds that act like 12 year olds.  I have had this sense that everyone is the same age as me....that we are all on the same level playing field. I have always been drawn to older friends too. Not sure why, but I sort of feel they are wiser and you ultimately become your friends so why not choose more mature ones. Or perhaps I have always been more mature than my age, so I am attracted to those older than me.  I'm just not sure why, but I feel I can hang out with a 21 year old or a 60 year old and it doesn't matter to me, because they are all the same age as me in my eyes.  Hard concept to digest, but age is what you make of it and yes, like wine, it does get better with age.