When I told friends I was going to a wedding recently, the responses were amusing.

Many folks assumed a young relative or the son or daughter of a friend was getting married. One fellow said he had not been to a wedding in decades but attends a funeral almost every month.

Such comments are to be expected, I guess, in my circle of friends and family members, since most of us are of Medicare age.

Actually, the bride was 66, and the groom was in his 70s. Both were marrying for the first time.

People were surprised, to say the least. So many jokes are made about older people or the aging process, opinions are formed early, and usually they do not include wedding vows for our generation.

One friend told me, “The good old days just keep getting further and further away.”

We were discussing the parties and picnics my two late husbands and I used to host a few times a year. So many members of our group are gone. At least five have died, and some others moved out of state to be closer to their families.

Nothing lasts forever, but often in the moment, we are lulled into thinking time will stand still. Our realities certainly were different when we were in our 20s and 30s.

Where we guys and gals once sported fashionable long hair, many folks our age now long for hair. Acid rock has become acid reflux, and the beloved Rolling Stones have given way to gallstones and kidney stones.

Back in the day, we sought out hip joints in which to party. Now people my age are getting new hip joints (or new knee joints).

What a difference a few decades make in our perspective.

Like my friend who defied expected norms and married late in life, we are not bound by the assumptions or beliefs of society.

At the local senior center, I delight in watching energetic women of a certain age taking tap dancing lessons. And the Zumba Gold classes are led by lively instructors who are as old as their students.

We baby boomers may be growing older, but we are in no hurry to grow up. We’re a lot more active and youthful than our parents and grandparents were at our age. And fortunately, most of us can joke about our advancing age and its indignities.

One friend is fond of saying the older he gets, the better he was. Another says his idea of “getting lucky” now means being able to find his car in a parking lot. My sister-in-law jokes that her passwords are protected by amnesia.

I have seen several T-shirts poking fun at people my age. One message asks, “When did my wild oats turn into shredded wheat?” Another shirt reads, “I thought growing old would take longer.”

Yes, I agree. Sometimes it feels weird to realize I am the same age as “old people.”

Some friends describe their bodies as temples: ancient and crumbling.

Humor is an important companion on our journey through the golden years. Those of us who once were high are now high on life. We cram a lot of living into the time we have remaining. We dance, date, party, ride motorcycles and, yes, even marry.

We will never be “old enough to know better.”