A few weeks ago, my 20 year old cousin, Brittany, was telling me about one of her college professors. “… blah, blah, blah, she’s middle aged, blah, blah, blah…” I couldn’t really concentrate on the rest of what Brittany was saying because I realized that she was actually talking about someone who was probably close to my age.

“Wait a second,” I said. “Do you mean the old middle-aged or the new middle-aged? Because the old middle age is like 40, which is so NOT middle-aged anymore and the new middle-aged is way older because people are living longer.” (I really felt like I had to explain that to my Generation Y cousin so she could see that her college professor is actually only a few years older than her really cool, hip, cousin—Me!)

“Hmm…” Brittany said. “I think I mean the old middle-aged.”

Oh my gosh! I was stunned! My own cousin considers someone around my age to be “middle-aged!” Suddenly, I was recalling those old Geritol commercials from when I was little. Is this where I was headed? Was I about to have a mid-life crisis or something?

Later that evening, while catching up on a bunch of TIVO’d Grey’s Anatomy episodes, I noticed that Mare Winningham was a guest star. Some of you may remember Mare from the highly regarded 1985 flick St. Elmo’s Fire. Her character was in love with Rob Lowe’s character. Rob wasn’t really into Mare or her strange girdle.

Anyway, the big shocker about Mare’s appearance on Grey’s Anatomy was that her character was about to become a GRANDMOTHER. That’s right. Obviously, Mare was considered to be even older than what my cousin felt was the old middle aged.

Seeing that my 39^th birthday was just around the corner, I started to wonder what age was considered middle-aged nowadays. First, I asked my husband, Bill, what he considered to be middle-aged. “50’s,” said Bill, who was obviously nicer than my cousin. “That seems about middle-aged to me.”

Next, I asked another expert, my mom. She agreed with Bill and said that people in their 50’s are the new middle age because people are supposedly living longer.

Last in my very serious investigation, I decided to call upon a geriatrician. I figured this person might actually have some insight into when someone becomes middle-aged. I spoke with 1986 graduate of Buffalo Grove High School, Jodi (Malis) Goh, MD, MPH (Masters in Public Health), Board certified in Geriatrics and Internal Medicine.

"As a geriatrician, I provide medical care to the frail elderly and rarely take care of middle aged patients,” says Dr. Goh, who now resides in Hawaii. “Webster's dictionary defines middle age as the period of life between 40 and 60. In my opinion, with the average US life expectancy at birth approximately 80 years, middle age would be around 40."

I couldn’t believe that my cousin, Brittany, was correct. In just one year I would be as old as her “middle-aged” teacher. “Middle age is not necessarily just a number, but more what’s happening in your life at the time,” adds Dr. Goh. “It could be defined when you reach certain markers regarding your personal life, job, etc.” In addition, “There is a Business Week article available on the internet from Sept, 2006, ranking each state by life expectancy. Hawaii ranks #1 with 80 years. Illinois is 33rd with 76 years.”

Hmm… Well, I guess I’ve never really thought of myself in any particular age category, but I have noticed a few things lately:

In recent months, I have started to enjoy magazines that I’ve always disliked. I remember while waiting in line at the grocery store I would literally think, “Who in the world would ever buy boring magazines like Redbook and Good Housekeeping? There’s absolutely nothing to read in there.” And all of the sudden, I’ve found myself drawn to their covers thinking, “Wow, I never knew they had such great articles, maybe I should get a subscription.”

Then, one of my friends was telling a sad story about someone in her 40’s and my friend ended the tale with, “and she’s such a young woman.” All of my other friends agreed with the notion that the age of 40 was so young when just a few years back we definitely thought otherwise.

Also, I used to think that the parents of the kids I babysat for were so old. Now I’m the same age as those parents were and as much as I discuss MTV, iPods or text-messaging, our babysitters probably think I’m totally old.

Either way, many people think of “middle-age” as their best years and that sounds good to me. Do you know someone who should be featured in this column? If so, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Thanks!

© 2007 Susan Dubin, Buffalo Grove, Illinois