Celebrating Middle Age: You Plan To, Don't You?

Hey you young whipper-schnappers out there: Buckle your seat belts and look both was before crossing the street and it's very likely that some day, you too will reach middle age. Oh, but of course you knew that. . .

Even here in Kiev, Ukraine, people imagine themselves forever young. Twenty-five years from now, this bunch will look at this photo and laugh themselves silly. But for now, this look works.


Saturday I was at a youth event here in Kiev. The theme was Youth: The Church of Today and Tomorrow. They allowed youth group alumni such as myself to attend too. Oh yeah!

Not one person said Hey Eileen, you should be home with your knitting. A good thing since I don't knit. But this lady does.

By the way, how to say knit and purl in Russian? I haven't a clue, komrad.

We baby boomers figured that we'd be forever young, thanks to the dawning of the Age of Acquarius, the Age of Acquari-uuus, Acquar-eee-us. Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding. . . Oops, reminded me of a song from the past. . .

Anyway, a year or maybe 20 years ago, back in a previous millenium, I decided that I would officially be middle-aged when my youngest brother Ben turned 40. You see, when I graduated from high school (Go Manchester Panthers!) he was a little blond tyke, two years old. Well, lots has happened since then and this past August, our Ben turned 40.

And now he's got a little blond tyke or two of his own.

Not everybody is as lucky as I was, to get a baby brother at age 16. So here's another definition of middle age: You know you've reached middle age when you work for someone younger than you.

Are you there yet?

Or, in an interesting twist: You know you've reached middle age when youre older than the nation's president. As you may be aware, President-elect Obama was born in 1961, the final wave of the baby boom generation. He's not the first baby boomer to be president, of course.

Presidents Clinton and Bush were both born summer of 1946, on the leading cusp of the baby boom. You know, if this election had gone differently, maybe almost everybody would feel younger. Who isn't younger than John McCain? ;)

Politics aside, there's something refreshing about having young blood, young energy in leadership.

How about you, dear blog readers: How do you define middle age? How will you know when you've reached that milestone?