My 40th birthday is fast approaching and I can’t help but think about age. Age is a number that has so many assumptions wrapped up in its little digits. There are assumptions about how a body should function, what it should be doing, and how it should be dressed all based on age. These assumptions and expectations are not just on the body, they’re also imposed on how a person should act and what kinds of things they should enjoy.
There are times I feel my age. I feel it in the wisdom I have gained from my many rich life experiences. I feel it in the backaches after working all day cleaning houses. I see it in the grey hairs and little wrinkles that show themselves to me in the mirror. I hear it in the creaks and cracking sounds of my joints.
And with all of that, there are so many ways I don’t feel like I could possibly be 40 years old. I am regularly filled with childlike wonder at the beauty of the world around me. I still run out barefoot into summer storms. I still dance all night, sometimes on a dance floor, sometimes around a fire with the sounds of drums moving me in ways my big, ole body “shouldn’t” be able to move. I can’t help but smile when my partner tells me that he can’t keep up with me, even though he is over ten years younger. I smile because I know there is truth in those words.
With all of this, I walk dance happily into my 40s, and do my part to keep rebelling against all the shoulds and should nots that age tries to hand me.
Unruly Bodies 
Reading your post really makes me happy because I can feel the joy that you have for life emanating off the page. Having fun with life should not have an expiration date and it especially should not be influenced by age. I too think it is ridiculous that people of certain ages are all of a sudden supposed to be unhappy or inactive with their lives. My mom is in her 40’s and she is constantly being told by people that she should dress a certain way or should behave a certain way because of how old she is. I always tell her, don’t care about what people say just do what makes you happy.
I felt like a lot of people could relate to this. A lot of my family members are well over 40 now, but most of them have decided to “rebel against the should and should nots of age”. For example, my aunt is going to be 43 this year, and she definitely acts like she is a between the ages of 12-18. She likes to wake up early and watch the Saturday morning cartoons in bed, she loves to do anything that has to do with Crayola products, and there always seems to be a teen-like drama going on in her life. She inspires me in a way, because I would love to be her age and still have that sense of child-like innocence, while also keeping a stable, good-paying job working for a media company. She has embraced her 40s, and has really proved that the “should and should nots” of this age are only as important as you make them to be.