I've never really considered myself as leaning towards being 'old' even though all the signs are there.

• I'm closer to 30 now than I am to 20.
• My two youngest brothers are still in school and have a long way to go yet.
• I graduated high school before Graham even started school.
• People used to confuse me for Graham and Connor's mother, not their sister.
• I remember clearly changing Connor's nappy when he was a bratty little infant and he is now almost 6ft tall and towers over me making me feel horrendously ancient.
• My cousin is 2 years old.  My other cousins haven't even been conceived yet, they're still in the works.
• The age difference between me and my uncles is almost the same as between me and my brothers.
• My sister Nicole who is 5 years younger than me is married.
• Standing inside the main office of my old high school with Nicole when we were picking up Graham the other day I had to count back quite a few years on the honour board to find my year. And then I chanced to glance at previous years and noticed that about 85% of the even older students I knew from work.
• Attending exams at university (I do distance education so I can work) only to find 99% of the other students in my course are freshly graduated, can't drive and can't even drink yet  and are talking about how old they feel.
• Hearing my friends wince at the thought of eventually getting a mortgage - I have two.
• Realising the car I bought almost brand new is now 10 years old.

Even though some of these things make me feel particularly past my prime at any given time they generally don't tend to all gang up on me at once. Today however, they are. Why? Because yesterday a most unfortunate incident occured - I put my back out.

No big deal you say? Well put it this way, I wasn't training for BMX, I wasn't snowboarding, I wasn't lifting furniture and moving house, I wasn't at the gym, I wasn't fixing my car even though I really should, I wasn't in the throes of passion with George... I wasn't actually doing anything that is even remotely cool. Embarrasingly, I was pulling my pants on getting dressed in the morning when my back spasmed, I screamed in pain, George comes running in to find me clutching at the door frame unable to move. If that's not a sign of getting old, I don't know what is.

Then, to really compound the problem there's a whole bunch of really awful questions that the doctor asked:

Have you ever had a car accident - Check!

Did you injure your back - Check!

Have you ever been involved in high impact sports - Check!

For how long? - Ummm 14 years (fuck!)

Do you get back pain normally - Check!

Have you ever had any other back injuries - Check!

Do you have any spinal conditions - Check!

So basically, I'm fucked. I'm hobbling around like a 90 year old woman wincing in pain every time I have to move and have to go see a chiropractor. I'm feeling every inch of my age today and I'm cranky as fuck about it.