I am an old woman. I don’t care if someone calls me an old woman. I am younger than some and older than many. I know that is a bad sentence for all you grammar people, but I am old and I don’t care. It doesn’t seem to be a good thing to be called old.

There are many definitions in the dictionary for old. These are some of my favorites: Belonging to a remote or former period in history; ancient; having become slower in flow and less vigorous in action; skilled or able through long experience; practiced; having lived or existed for a relatively long time; far advanced in years or life.

It is not polite to call someone old. Many people are offended if you call them old. We don’t always look at the word old as being good.

As people, we seem to have a hard time with being called old. Call us experienced. Call us mature. Call us exquisitely experienced, but don’t call us old. Do not believe the advertisers that portray old as something bad so we don’t want to reveal our age to be over 30. According to an article in the Cambridge Press last year, negative stereotypes in ads affect how older people view themselves and also how younger people feel about old age and aging.

There are good and bad advertising but the best advertisement of getting old are those of us who lead by example. I have some great older friends who have taught me a great deal on how to live my life, and none of it is negative. They make me look forward to aging.

There is nothing wrong with an old shoe, old wine, old friendships or an old house. In fact, change the world old to antique and it means valuable. If you are old, you are valuable.

Being old means we have wisdom that we have gained through good and bad experiences in our lives. The more wrinkles and gray hair we have, the more we have lived.

I Googled songs about “old people” and there were very few positive songs found. Most were funny parodies of aging. We do have to have a sense of humor about our age. Remember laughter keeps us young.

My favorite poem about growing older was written by Jenny Joseph. Many of you might recognize it.

“Warning: When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin candles, and say we’ve no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people’s gardens

and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

and eat three pounds of sausages at a go

or only bread and pickles for a week

and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

and pay our rent and not swear in the street

and set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

I wonder if when Jenny wrote this poem she suspected it would be so popular. We all did what we had to do, what was expected of us and now in our old age we can let go and be that woman or man in purple. People expect us to forget things and act odd. So we might as well live up to those expectations too and do the unexpected.

So go ahead. Call me old. It means I am as comfortable as an old shoe, fine as an old wine and as valuable as an antique. If you are old, you are all of those things too. Live purple.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send e-mail to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net .Listen to KBEW AM radio 1:30 p.m. Sundays for “Something About Nothing.”