My son asked me the age of my sister-in-law today. When I replied that she just turned 60, he’s reply was that “she’s old”. I have to admit that I refused somehow to accept his comment. My sister-in-law is still vital, still working as a judge, still full of life and energy. Even if age might not simply being a number, it has a lot to do with how we perceive it.

I’m turning fifty this year, and for some time it actually bothered me. Because I don’t feel like fifty. But then, all of a sudden, it stopped feeling like a threat. I’m not sure exactly why, but perhaps it was because I realised that in one aspect it is just a number. On the other hand, turning 50 means I have a lot of life experience, a certainty about things that I didn’t have at 20, 25 or 30. That doesn’t mean I think I have the answer to everything. By far! Yet, knowing I don’t have the answer to everything without the slightest embarrassment is also an achievement. One that I think a lot of parents have to face at some point.

I value my life experience, I value becoming of age. At the same time, I still feel I have lots of energy, lots more to contribute, lots more to look forward to, and lots more to do in life. There’s still so much to see and learn!

I’m not embarrassed about my wrinkles, or stressed about the fact that at some point my hair will turn grey. When it does, it does, and I’m not going to do anything about it. I’m not going to put Botox in my forehead either. As I explained my kids today, my wrinkles are a result of a lived life. They come from sorrow and happiness, wind, rain and sun. It’s natural. Aging is natural.

With that said, I know people that have obviously felt “old” decades before they should have reason to feel old (well, that’s my opinions at least. Feel free to disagree!). Who seems to be obsessed with the number they calculate from their year of birth. They kind of stopped living years ago, and I don’t understand why.

I also know people who seemed unstoppable in enjoying life as long as they had it. Who didn’t get to reach their 80th birthday, but who still maximised for as long as they could. And that’s my honest intention, to live life to the fullest for as long as I can. With my wrinkles, my grey hair, my knowledge of life, and my wisdom if I may be so bold as to say so.

I want to age with dignity, and nobody is going to take that away from me. I want to dress the way I want, I want to be on the barricades for as long as I want, and are able to. I want to voice my opinion for as long as I have a voice.

And as I recently was reminded of, with age comes the knowledge of knowing that you cannot please everyone, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake. And I like cake.

So embrace yourselves, for this woman has no intention of being put on a shelf or being stuck in the background until she’s actually put in the ground.