10 Has Always Been Significant

I was born at the beginning of a decade. When I was young I thought it was cool that the year was similar to how old I was. In 1947 I was 7 years old. Then 1950 came, and it became a little more complicated. My age had two digits, but only one digit in the year's date coincided with my age. Nevertheless, by then I could add and subtract and learned if I subtracted the last two digits of my birthdate year from the last two digits from the current year, I would end up with how old I was. In 1957 I was 17 years old.

Then the century turned. Now let's see. If I subtract the last two digits of my birthdate year from the last two digits of the current year, I end up being 30 years old. That would mean that in 2007 I was 33 years old. Things are looking up!

In the 1980s I was in my forties. I was middle-aged and mature. Mature is good.

In 1990 I suddenly was in my fifties and I was getting what my students might consider old.

In my sixties I became eligible for retirement (which I recommend highly) and was officially recognized by my teacher retirement plan and Social Security as OLD enough to retire.

By the end of the decades I have learned to reconcile my age of that decade and enjoy the perks that go with it. But coming up on April 14 I will be in my 70s! That's going to take some time for getting used to it.

My first observation about being almost 70 is that 70 is not as old as it used to be. I'm going to work at making that true.