Some are born middle aged, some achieve middle age, and some have middle age thrust upon them

There's a card going round at work for someone who is having his 50th birthday soon. I was surprised. I thought he was already 50.


I've been in this job a long time so I remember this person when he was Younger than Elvis. He's got stouter and tweedier since then but he always seemed to embrace the state of middleagedness. Some people do. I've known a few men in particular who've attained middle age with equanimity: being pompous and fogeyish suited their personalities.

Those tend to be male traits but I've known women who seem to have been born middle-aged. Even as teenagers, they never showed interest in the important things in life like art, music and what to wear.

I'm one of the ones who's had middle age thrust upon them. I didn't ask for it, I didn't want it, and I resisted it as long as I could.

But actually, it's not that bad. As one of my Twitter friends told me the other day: 'I'm happier now than when I was 20. Middle age rocks, actually.'

So, I happily signed the birthday card: 'You're nearly as old as me.'

I'm still not letting on how many years older I am, though.