As I reach my late-middle 50s…

An amusing, too truthful piece by Michael Winerip of The New York Times:

Aging by Megabyte 
AS I reach my late-middle 50s, I am, for the first time, feeling old. I don’t mean physically old. I have aches and pains, but I’ve been blessed. My health has been good … I have four children ages 14 to 20, and once they hit the teenage years, a primary purpose in their lives has been to tear their once-godlike Dad down to bite-size.

It reminded me of a silly thing I wrote a handful of years ago:

The Slobberer
Without a hint of fear she reached up and pulled down on the sides of my mouth. "Ahhh," she said with a nod. "You drool."

"What?"

“You drool."

"...When?"

"At night."

"But...old people drool."

"Yes."

I twitched and tried not to shudder. "Are you sure? I'm not even in my late fifties yet. I’m in my … earlier late fifties.”

And in my book Advertising to Baby Boomers (2007):

***

More from Michael Winerip:

Spring would arrive, we’d be out at the ball field once again, I’d be hitting them flies, and the three boys would be edging toward me, yelling, “Remember when you used to hit them far, Dad? Remember that, Dad?”