I was 52 when my 10 year-old nephew asked me, “How old are you?” That is an age old question is it not? But one I was not prepared to answer. Truth be told, I had not dealt with the fact that I belonged to an older age group. I did not want to be classified as old. Right away, I thought back several years when my own child of 4 years asked his grandmother, “How old are you?” She replied the numbers “4, 8”. He said, “Oh, eighty-four,” and turned away to play. She immediately corrected by him saying that she was forty-eight. For him at 4 years of age, numbers were merely numbers.

Before answering my nephew, I thought of myself when I was 10 years old. Anyone who was over 50 would have been ancient in my eyes. So, I thought, if I’m going to be old in his eyes then I’m really going to be old, and I told him I was 100! His answer was, “You don’t look 100.”

A few days later he was back and his first words to me were, “You are not 100! Dad told me you are 52.” The amazing thing was he still looked at me with the same loving gaze and regard he had before the age issue was mentioned and he still wanted to spend time with me. Actual age was not important. Once again it was all about numbers.

I learned a memorable lesson that day. Age only means how long one has lived on this earth. It has nothing to do with how one feels inside or looks on the outside. People, especially children, respond positively to kindness and gentleness - not age. Now when asked how old I am, I tell the truth. Although, yes, I do cross my fingers and hope that particular person or child won’t think I’m extremely old!