How old are you?

Oliver loves to know individuals' ages.  He's pretty much got all of the cousins' ages memorized.  And when we visit other people, one of the first questions he asks is, "How old are you?"  At first I thought I may need to train Ollie not to ask that question but another one instead, fearing people wouldn't be comfortable with such an inquiry.  But I was wrong.  Much to my happy surprise, people don't mind it a bit.

I never want to mind the age I am or shy away from the question, "How old are you?"  There is wisdom that comes with years of experience and I've learned a lot from individuals older than me.  But I can almost guarantee that even though I won't mind how old I am, I'm sure not going to feel it.

I think up until 16 you feel your age.  Maybe up to 19, but beyond that it's different.  At 20 you feel 18, and at 21 you can't believe you've made it that far.  It's at 25 that you feel 22, and at 28 its 25.  Then at 30, well you still feel 25.  I can only speak from experience up to 30, but from what I can tell from talking to those older than me, the trend continues.  40 is 35, 50 is still 35.  My mother never felt 35 actually, 60 was her 28.  And the other day an 80-year-old family friend mentioned to me she never felt 80 or 70 or 60 and she isn't sure when she got there!

Why is it that we never feel our age?  Time goes by but we never seem to catch up with it.