How do you know when you're old enough to be a woman of a certain age? I knew when I started referring to men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine as young men.

How do you know if you have the flair? You don't feel you have to wear higher necklines and longer skirts. If your hair style is fashionably short - it's not as short as your memory.

A woman of a certain age has earned certain privileges - besides a man occasionally giving her his seat. She has earned the privilege to say "no". "No, I don't care to do that, go there or try that". No explanation required. No excuse given. She doesn't do it because she doesn't want to.

I don't like the way I make capital "L's", so I don't. I use only lower case L's. When I write, I overuse hyphens; but I don't care. I no longer feel confined by rules of capitalization or punctuation. In fact, I no longer feel I have to be punctual.

My always wearing black is no longer thought strange or even unusual - it's me. When someone says I don't look my age, I smile because I don't know what my age is meant to look like.

Today it's more socially acceptable for women to marry younger men - one small step for women, one giant leap to end the double standard. Considering women live an average of seven years longer than men, marrying a younger man isn't vain. It's practical.

Besides, a woman of a certain age is ready to explore life. Why should she feel she has to take time to teach an old dog new tricks.

A woman of a certain age is self-assured. She's been there and done that. She's ready to take her experience of the world into the world. What she thought she'd like to do some day, she can do today. It's her time - if she takes the time to make it her time.

Although being a woman of a certain age has to grow on you, it's time for quality over quantity. It's time to upgrade your life. After all, there's still lots of time to make time payments.