Today would be my dad's 72nd birthday, but he died in an accident 38 yrs ago, just before his 34th birthday.

My sisters and I were talking about age (during my 50th b'day dinner the other night ) and we laughed (and agreed) when my eldest sister brought up that she had thought "at least he lived a good LONG life when he died". That was our impression at 14, 11 and 7 yrs old.

Up until the last few centuries, people only lived till their late 30's, on average. Our expectations, and the definition of "old" has changed significantly since then, obviously.

I still say 50+ transitions us to the "older" group. I enjoyed my 40's more than any other decade though, so hopefully the 50's will be good to me too.

Cherie