If I was bold enough to ask my grandmother how old she was, she would inform me that she was as old as her tongue and a little bit older than her teeth!
More recently a friend told me that you are “as old as the fella you feel” but it really isn’t that simple because it doesn’t take into account the perceptions that other have of your age.
It may surprise you to read that my husband can be challenging to live with at times, there again if you have read some of my other articles perhaps you are not so surprised! Usually I am able to smile indulgently, but ocassionally I have steam coming out of my ears and at times I feel totally exhausted. The other day he managed to make me feel deeply depressed without doing anything wrong at all. The reason for the despondency was his school photo. He brought out this old fashioned rolled up photo and there he was, a cute little boy with knobbly knees sitting cross legged in the front row. He was 5 and he already possessed that stubbornly determined look that I know so well. I expect you are wondering what I found so depressing about that, just a minor point, the photo was taken the year before I left school! Whoever said that a ‘toyboy’ makes you feel young – probably wasn’t speaking from experience!
It isn’t just my husband who makes me feel my age, my son made me feel incredibly old recently. He had been sorting through some bits and bobs that I had packed away in the loft and he came in to show me a ‘book from the olden days’. It was actually a Harold Hare annual from the year I was born! I was a great fan of Harold Hare and friends when I was little and I couldn’t resist leafing through the annual to revisit some long forgotten friends. My son was fascinated, he kept telling me that there were some very modern illustrations considering the book was so old. I asked what he expected, he didn’t quite say that the world was totally black and white in those days, but he did say that he had expected the illustrations to be ‘water-colours and stuff’. Clearly he imagines that dinosaurs still roamed the streets in those days as well!
I had a wonderful Christmas present this year a gadget that allows me to transfer photo negatives to my computer and I have been busy rediscovering old photos and reliving old memories. Suddenly I find myself wondering how the years have flown past so fast. I didn’t expect to feel old while still in my 40s but I have to admit that there are times when I do. I can’t stop the relentless march of time, so it is probably best to embrace my age, enjoy the here and now and cherish the memories that I carry with me into the future
Thanks for sharing your moment.You’re right nobody likes being told that they’re are old. It’s a sensitive topic worth avoiding. No need to proliferate and agitate. 
Great article. “You’re as old as you feel, not as old as you look”. 
age is a number.
we all I feel think we are younger than we look as we age on the outside to fast first, left with cracks on our skin,and bouncing feeling fresh on the inside,thing just dont match.
I really enjoyed this write of yours and oh yes time fly s past us much to fast.
I can not get over the past 10years,asking myself where do those years go, 
to much in a hurry they are.
When a yonger person asks you how old you are it’s so insulting but when someone older than you asks you how old you are it feels okay. Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I enjoyed reading it
nice article… for me i don\’t like feeling old… because i always have a young soul… always young… 
All these youngsters on here talking about feeling old makes me feel younger.
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