69. Age is only a number.

Some of you will agree that age is only a number and others will pause for a moment to think about it. I am a supporter of the statement as I have never been particularly conscious of my age. I wasn't excited to be a teenager at 13 or to be eligible to drive a car at 15 or drink beer in a bar at 21. I never fudged being 39 for three or four extra years, nor celebrated the arrival of Freedom 55. Ages 65 and 70 and 75 came and went and I just ambled along. 

I know that some people, often the feminine gender, do agonize at arriving at certain chronological milestones. For some, turning 30 or 40 or 50 are significant stages that concern them. To illustrate the irrelevance of age, I am sharing the following achievements by famous people of various ages. For example:

• Mozart at age six, wrote five short piano pieces that are still frequently performed.
• Actress Shirley Temple became a millionaire before age 10.
• Fats Domino was a professional pianist by 10.
• At age 14, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first athlete in Olympic history to achieve a perfect 10.
• Author Joseph Conrad, 17, wanting to be a sailor, first went to sea. P.S. Conrad's Mother was a Bobrovski - from my family tree!
• Robert Browning publishes his first poetry at age 21
• Charles Goodyear, 39, discovered vulcanization and led the way to the effective use of rubber.
• Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring at 55.
• At 66, Colonel Sanders founded Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• Grandma Moses started painting at 77.
• At 99, Harold Foster of Owensboro, KY, began learning to read.

No matter what age we claim, the world will not be as impressed by the number as by the achievement that can be noted beside your name. I humbly will submit that Ken Bobrosky at age 80 wrote about 80 Life Lessons he learned during his 80 years of stumbling around. Now it is your turn! Don't be shy! Everyone can claim something!