Nonage

[If you need an epiphany, I recommend driving on the freeway. Taking a shower is also a pretty good bet.]

This idea presented itself to me recently: What if I relinquished my age? Of course, what I meant by it was not that I would cease to have an age, but that I would willingly avoid awareness of it. Maybe I could try it for a limited time to see if I liked it.

Several advantages (most of them frivolous) came to mind. My favorite is the potential for conversations with people who don't really know me. I imagined the following exchange with, let's say, a parent of one of my clients.

"Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"
"Not at all."
[pause]
"so...how old are you?"
"Well, that's actually an interesting question. I don't have an age."
"what?"
"Well, I mean, I do. But I challenged myself to live for a year without any particular age. So I just tell people I don't have one."
"Are you trying not to answer the question?"
"oh, no. It's just something I'm doing...for me. Ask me in a year, and I'll be happy to tell you how old I am."
"Weird."
"Yeah, I know."
"You look really young."
"Thanks."

When I got home to check my email, I discovered "nonage" was the word of the day on July 20. Talk about serendipity! (which was WOD on July 26) But, alas, the definition was nowhere near a reflection of my idea. I wonder if there's a site where you can look up words by their definition...