Age. It’s a funny thing, especially when you try to pin it down. I’m not talking about chronological age, as that’s pretty much set in stone. The question is how age is perceived.

For example, after asking my high school students what they thought was old age they agreed upon 24. Ugh! Just today, one of my kids said her friends referred to 33 as “fossil age.” Conversely, my 97-year-old mother told me she’d met a new friend who was young: 82.

See why I’m confused?

The perception of age seems to be an individual thing. But is it based on what we look like? How we feel? How we act? It seems the United Nation’s has determined that anyone over 59, no matter where they live or how they look or feel, is considered old. However, Boomers—no doubt a bit biased—say you’re not old until you’re 73.

In recent decades, ideas about age have clearly shifted. Consider the phrase “40 is the new 30”, which morphed into “50 is the new 40”. So, is 70 the new 60? I’d like to think so. Still, not long ago the idea of a woman over 30 gracing a magazine cover was rather rare. The thought being that ladies past that age were no longer attractive or desirable or captivating. Note the same prohibition was not held in regard to men, who could be suave and sexy well into their 50s and 60s. Go figure.

But then something shifted. Not only did a lot of famous women maintain their looks as the decades slipped past, but people found them much more interesting than those 20-something youngsters who still hadn’t acquired much life experience.

I’m thinking age is a combination of factors. Looking good certainly helps, but more important is good health. When we‘re fit, we feel better, which colors the way we act. Like most people, I’ve occasionally been on the opposite end of feeling good, and when I stared into the mirror I saw what old age looked like. While I understand illness, aches, and pains come with advancing years, they don’t have to define us.

There are a lot of ways we can work around the ailments that plague us as we age: eating right, exercise, hobbies, healthy relationships, volunteer work. I’m willing to bet these things will go a long way toward making us healthier and happier, which will, no doubt, show on our faces.

I’m 67. And though I periodically feel ancient—the result of all those sports I was told were good for me—I don’t feel elderly in my head. My kids sometimes say I don’t act old. Perhaps that’s because I’m sometimes silly. Not too long ago, my sweetie pie and I were known to dance in the isles at Home Depot. Why there? I have no idea. Sometimes silly doesn’t make sense. It’s just fun.

So, let’s ditch the numbers and preconceived notions we have about age. Let’s work on our health and let the happiness shine through. And, personally, I recommend some silly now and then. I know many of you have outgrown that behavior, but give it a try.

I think you’ll look and feel younger.

The past and present collide when a tenacious reporter seeks information on an eleventh century magician…and uncovers more than she bargained for.

WOLF CATCHER

Anne Montgomery

Historical Fiction/Suspense

TouchPoint Press

February 2, 2022

In 1939, archeologists uncovered a tomb at the Northern Arizona site called Ridge Ruin. The man, bedecked in fine turquoise jewelry and intricate bead work, was surrounded by wooden swords with handles carved into animal hooves and human hands. The Hopi workers stepped back from the grave, knowing what the Moochiwimi sticks meant. This man, buried nine hundred years earlier, was a magician.

Former television journalist Kate Butler hangs on to her investigative reporting career by writing freelance magazine articles. Her research on The Magician shows he bore some European facial characteristics and physical qualities that made him different from the people who buried him. Her quest to discover The Magician’s origin carries her back to a time when the high desert world was shattered by the birth of a volcano and into the present-day dangers of archeological looting where black market sales of antiquities can lead to murder.

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