Sunday, September 06, 2015

Sixty



Today I turned 60.

I don't feel 60.  I think I finally made it to my 40's.

Which also makes me younger than my brothers and sisters.  I am not sure I like that, having been older than them for most of my life.

I say most, because, being the oldest, there were times in my life that they weren't around.  I don't personally remember the births (except for the twins, when I was 5 1/2), but the beauty of math is that it works.  So for 1 1/2, 3 1/3, and 5 1/2 years, it makes no sense to say I am older than someone who does not yet exist.  (not including gestation, of course, but don't forget that I gestated too, and we were all full term.  (I think.  I am not sure about the twins.) So it is a wash.)

60 is the basis for Babylonian and Sumerian Mathematics...none of them are around anymore, so I have that advantage.

Just so you know:  60 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6...which made it useful for whatever they needed the math to do.  We inherited 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour from them.

Back to old age.  I don't necessarily want to be young again, but I certainly don't feel old.  So I climbed around on rocks at White River Falls, 30 miles south of The Dalles, Oregon.

And 30 is, coincidentally, half of 60.