I have been told that I do not look my age but I am very proud that I am 59 and look forward to 60. I find that the last 10 to 11 years have been the greatest. It all started with the birth of my first grandson. Just last week-end, we took two of our grandchildren on a special outing for a few days. When we dropped them off at their house at the end of the week-end and my oldest said that he had the best time ever, I melted inside. I feel my age but do not feel all that old.

KB, I’m now looking to sisters like yourself to help me prepare for whats to come 20 years from now. I’m thankful to be 45. I know sisters who had to leave their children and families due to breast cancer. I would never try to claim to be an age other than the one I’ve been blessed to be. With that said, my husband of 12 years is 6 years younger than me. I have often felt his age throughout our marriage. So that’s 39.

Reading your posts, it makes me so happy to be 41! I also feel that I really became myself at 40. Something did happen, and it was wonderful. I now feel as though I am the woman I was always supposed to become. So my answer is: 41!

My mother and I were talking about this last year. She felt like she was 25. I felt like I was 32. I am in my fifties and my mother is in her eighties, but it was an odd way of finding out that I had gotten older than my mother! A decade or so ago I was very sick and felt like I was 95. So 32 is a great improvement. When I wake up in the morning, when I am probably still asleep and disoriented, I sometimes feel shock when I orient myself to the day, the age I am and the tricks time plays. Still, I think we spend way too much energy on age in our culture. Between 21 and whenever you lose light, it should not make any difference.

I’m 52, and I find it one of those ironies of this life that just when I feel my most sensual and attractive, with a lot more confidence in myself as a woman, is when you start to be seen by others as a “woman of a certain age!” Of course, the great aspect of this is the wisdom now acquired; if you’re alive, your going to age, so looking good and keeping active and involved is just being a positive role model for the women coming up behind you. Actually, though, I would like to be 40. A 40 year old woman is in her prime. She has the whole decade ahead of her to still be considered “young” and still have a lot of options. Also, at least in my case, cherished loved ones were still with me and my mom was still pretty vibrant and young herself.

The idea of being my chronological age sometimes catches me by surprise. I really have to stop and do the math, because I just don’t feel like whatever that number is “supposed” to be. I usually feel the same as I remember feeling when I was about 35. I remember being anxious to turn 30, because then, I said to myself, I will be taken seriously by others in my (certain) profession, and I will feel like I know what I am doing here. Now I am quite a bit over 30, but enjoy the profession. I work with elementary aged children for the most part, and I appreciate that they keep me energized, happy, and curious. They help me have hope in tomorrow, whatever is going on in the news. I don’t necessarily keep up with the fashions the younger ones wear because I feel they are ridiculous and insulting to women, but like to dress well. (Think Jacqueline Kennedy type classics.) I am fairly fit physically, but wish I actually were 35, so that I had more time to travel and see more people in the world. I love to travel in order to experience other cultures and foods, sights, and share faith with people in other places. I would like more time to get out and about.

I would be 16 again, leaving an abusive household, putting myself through college, again, knowing everything I know now at 51. I would never let anyone harm me and my sense of worth ever again. That is my biggest regret—not standing up for myself. Now I stand up for others who are abused and too fearful to do anything. I have had to face down serious opponents at work, and when I see fear and intimidation as tactics, instead of the law and what is right, I react. Sorry, this was supposed to be about how great my childhood and adulthood were, but they weren’t. I would like to start over as a small child and do things right this time.