Just beginning to feel it now, although visible signs have been there for a while! First grey hair at 27, a few wrinkles along the way which are now deepening, having to be careful what I eat permanently and those vile, sneaky dark, wiry hairs on my upper lip and chin - ugh! The skin on my face is soft. I only look at the rest of me if it is clothed.
The worst, though, is the time it now takes for me to recover from a late night or any event that in the past I would have shrugged off. We moved in March - I packed everything myself and moved everything but the furniture using my car. I have been completely exhausted ever since!
I am working full time in a demanding but satisfying career and am utterly blessed with great colleagues and a sometimes difficult but sympathetic boss with a fantastic personality and enormous intellectual powers. Every day at work I feel I learn more.
There are huge emotional issues with estrangement from one grown-up child and only very rare meetings with another. My third child and I are very close although she has now flown the nest.
My parents lived well into their 90s but I really cannot see myself being able to go on that long.
In the meantime, I will put on the mask when necessary, have as many laughs as possible, and try to squeeze whatever I can out of life for me and those around me.
But today I am slumping on the sofa - giving a big dinner party tomorrow for NYE.
I am 60.