the fountain of youth seems to be missing

My 20th high school reunion is this year which means I have started to move towards my late 30's. I don't think those begin until 38 so I still have a few months. The good news is that I already have a vacation planned so I don't even have to decide if I want to go. This aging thing really starts to creep up on you and before I knew it I have started to become a ma'am. Signs have been making themselves known but apparently I am pretty good at denial. I have received wedding invitations from people I swear would still need their parent's approval even in states like Alabama. Unfortunately when I asked my mom she told me they were definitely old enough, in fact they were in their 20's. I have seen adults who when I was introduced to them I found out my last memory of them was as small children - luckily I refrained from saying "I remember when you were just a baby" as I remember how much I hated it when someone told me that. As my sister ever so kindly pointed out I even have wrinkles by my ears - guess that is why during face lifts they pull back the skin by the ears so they can get rid of those as well.

A friend of ours realized she was getting older when she stood on the bow of a boat with lines ready and none of the guys at the dock made a run to help her whereas once upon a time she would have had plenty lining up. Someone else told us he realized he was getting older when he drove by the high school and wondered if the parents knew what their daughters were wearing instead of checking them out. Sam has even become the adult parents will let their teenage daughters take the dinghy out with when they want them to have some supervision. He prefers to remember when they kept their teenage daughters away from him.

I think no matter what age you are you never consider yourself old. Old is a minimum of 10 years older than your current age. As the birthdays continue to add up I think I will always be shocked to realize how old I am - maybe the forgetfulness you start to experience is really a good thing after all. Actually I have loved my 30's even more than my 20's and my 20's more than my teens so if the trend continues watch out for the 40's.