Hey, fellow baby boomers, do you remember how old you felt when you turned 30? How about 40? Remember chuckling at the jokes about wearing Depends? About eating bran muffins and drinking prune juice? Well, all that jocularity fades away when Facebook smacks you in the face with cold hard truth by announcing that one of your friends, a former fourth grade student, is celebrating her fortieth birthday.

The above scenario is completely hypothetical, of course. So, hypothetically speaking, how would you respond to the news? How would you reconcile the fact that one of the first students you taught was turning 40?

A.  Would you do the Jack Benny thing and refuse to admit you were getting older?
B.  Would you call a plastic surgeon?
C.  Would you give thanks for the years going by swiftly and sweetly?
D.  Would you be grateful for good health that makes you feel younger than are?
E.  Or would you spin yourself as a child prodigy who started teaching at a young age?

Hypothetically speaking, C and D seem like excellent answers. But E has the ring of hypothetical truth, don’t you think?

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