A few months back my wife and I attended a social gathering of some friends and folks with common interests. One of the attendees was a lady who was celebrating her 45^th birthday and the hosts were quite encouraging about everyone wishing the woman a happy birthday. They wanted us to help bring joy and happiness to her day. When I wished the woman a happy birthday she grumped at me. “I wish we could just let it go. I hate having birthdays. I’m 45, single and hate my job.” Well, first and foremost, you can bet I didn’t say another word to her about her birthday, but second… is having birthdays a bad thing? Is being single? Her job is a discussion for a different day.

Most of my readership knows I’ve written before about how age is simply a number. All too often people seem to carry beliefs that some capabilities and disabilities accompany certain ages. We expect children to start walking at a certain age, give or take a month. We expect them to start talking (coherently) at a certain age, give or take a couple months. Their ability to walk is followed by run, climb, etc. But what happens when we get older? A lot of people seem to believe that with age inevitably comes infirmity. That is one assumption I wish to challenge. The other is that “age” looks a certain way. Do we have to “look old?” (more…)

Just recently I wrote an entry about “The True Value of Life & Wealth,” in which I discuss those things in our lives that cannot be bought but are of great value. As a few of these attached images popped up on my computer in the daily feeds I review, it occurred to me that many of the items I discussed regarding valuable items in our lives that don’t have a dollar amount attached to them are the items we often can’t experience or have in our lives until we get a bit older.  How old?  That depends on the item. (more…)