“Age is just a number,” says the well-worn adage. But is it a number you care about, or one you tend (or try) to ignore?

Some people are really sensitive about their age and try to hide the truth from others – leave them guessing! For me, from an early age I looked older than my contemporaries. I think it is fair to say that trait has stayed with me so I just accept it. In fact, I often tell people how old I am just in case they think I am older!
My 29th birthday is the only one I really stressed over. Leaving my twenties behind seemed really significant at the time. I had three young children by that time. Sometimes I reflect on my life in decades, as follows:
0-10 All that childhood stuff
10-20 Probably the worst decade of my life – being a teenager is tough!
20-30 I enjoyed trying to be the model “Earth Mother”, baking my own bread etc and enjoying my young children
30-40 Wow! What happened? My life turned up-side-down with a broken marriage and being single again with young children
40-50 Life started to really improve at this point. I had a good job, mortgage and started getting my act together (at last!)
50-60 Well, I am not quite there yet. I have my sixtieth birthday later this year but this decade has been really good so far. I don’t know how I feel about turning sixty. I am aware that quite a few people I went to school with haven’t made it this far and I feel really grateful that I have.
60-70 Well, I feel fairly positive about the future. I have strong feelings about people in my age group continuing to play an active part in our world (however that translates for each of us). You might want to check out my other blog at http://www.encoreaustralia.wordpress.com. It has some great links relevant to this age group.
I am looking for ideas on how to celebrate my sixtieth, so send them through please. Big parties have no appeal, nor does jumping out of a plane – something a little less dramatic would be good 🙂