This Old Mom

I had my daughter Tess at the age of 43. When she graduates from high school, I'll be pushing 60. If she doesn't have kids before the age of 40, the whole "hey, grandma" thing ain't happening. (That hurts because I know I will have so much "old broad energy" to share.) Recently, while I was driving my tween daughter and some pals to basketball practice, age came up. Each girl called out her mom's age and all of them were a solid decade behind me. I winced at the wheel. I felt embarrassed for my daughter before she chimed in, but I shouldn't have been. "My mom is 54, like Studio 54," my kid said. (Yes, I home schooled Tess on the disco movement.) "Well, I wasn't around when Studio 54..." I started. Then, I stopped. Nobody cared how old I was--except me. The girls had already moved on to a new topic. The moment was a great reminder that "age-esteem" (my own term for worrying about your digits) starts with us. We can dictate the perception of our age in how we present it. And by the way, "old moms" are a thing. I'm on trend! Birthrates have declined for women in their 20s and jumped for women in their late 30s and early 40s, according to a new dispatch from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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