Article: Arrival of middle age can be a surprise.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)

Middle age is here.

I know it whenever I negotiate stairs and listen to the odd pop-crunch sound my right knee makes.

I realized it when my husband turned 45 last month. Forty-five! I'm married to a middle-aged man!

I realize it when I look into the mirror and find my mother's face staring back at me.

I realize it when I have to have bright light to do embroidery. Actually, I knew it even earlier, when my children could thread a needle faster than I could. It reminds me of the times I would perform the needle-threading task for my grandmother. I was incredulous that she found this a hard job. ``It's easy for young eyes,'' she would say.

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