100 Insights

When I was a kid, we did not mark the 100th day of school.  In fact, we really only marked the first day of school :( and the last day of school :).  In the middle was just, you know, the grind.  But now, they do.  For Teddy's 100th day, he filled out some 100-themed worksheets in a way that gives insight into the seven-year-old brain.  Love that kid.

Monday Chart: Joke Filter

Query: How do you know when you're middle-aged?

At a recent dinner with friends in their late 30s & early 40s, I asked (in pretty serious fashion) if we are middle aged. The responses took two forms: a) not taking the question very seriously or b) working very hard to dispel the notion that we've achieved this dubious milestone. I've contemplated the question lately because - among other things - my youngest child is about to be a school-aged child and my parents are about to retire. I don't know how one knows that one is middle-aged. I haven't found (or, in truth, formally sought) a definition. There's strong evidence for the proposition, though:

• If you doubled my current age, you'd get 75. A little young to shuffle off but not shocking.
• I have age spots.
• Music & apparel from my teen years is back in the popular culture.
  
• Yes, I'm rather bald, but that process started when I was 23, so it's not a strong indicator one way or the other.
  
• I've reached that age at which I don't undertake exercise without the proper apparel for the given activity.

I think I'm middle-aged, but contemplating the subject has made clear that the question of whether one has achieved this phase of life is difficult to answer definitively. It's easy to know when you're a teenager. Thanks to a 90s drama, we now know it's a thing to be a thirtysomething and by extension a twentysomething. Obviously, it's easy to know when you're in those brackets. Not so, middle-age. Are you middle-aged? How do you know?

Things that sound different at 21 and 70

OK, this is a random post, but this thought popped into my mind. There are things that would sound really different if you heard an 18-year-old say them than if you heard a 70-year-old say them:

-I'm going to the club.
-Boy, do I feel old.
-I can't remember what I did last night.
-I think I just wet my pants.
-Wait. Who's the President again?