Tomorrow I will add a number to my years on Earth. With the rise of the sun I will suddenly go from being a fun-lovin’ immature 27-year-old to a mature, baby-carrying woman in her late 20s.I tend not to focus too much on age, mine included. In a book about the art of immortality I once read that age is irrelevant. The book’s main characters lived through many centuries, traveling the world, aging slowly, but never truly getting old. I liked their philosophy.I believe one’s collection of life experiences determines an age much more than the number of days one has been alive.Ever since reading the book, I do my best to honor people’s age, without using it as a way of making judgments or assumptions about their life or character.This winter I attended a news convention featuring radio personality and author Garrison Keeler. He spoke about a great many things, but what stuck in my mind was that he claimed to be 27 years old.He said many times that 27 is the age he has felt for some time, and why should math get in the way of his feelings.I didn’t disagree. If anything, I was a champion of his theory. It made sense to me, all the while reminding me that this summer I would no longer be 27 — with my birthday I would suddenly be older than Garrison.I feel I am a woman of great experience. I have done my best to travel often and far, to listen closely to those around me, to gather as much information from my experiences as possible and to compartmentalize all of these experiences so that I can draw on them with accuracy and ease. All of this effort (or experience) has made me feel much older than my actual age.When I celebrated my quarter-century mark, it could just as well have been my half-century. I never feel as if I am getting older. I have just always felt older than my age reflects.So to hear that I would suddenly be older than a man who clearly has mountains more life experiences than I do was strange. I was forced to reevaluate my thoughts on my age — or at least my perception of it.Perhaps I haven’t always been old, as I have thought. But I certainly don’t mind getting older. My 27th year was a good one. In fact, most of my years have been good, so why should I be fearful of beginning another?I like the idea of tacking on another year — after all, I have been in my 20s for awhile now and am looking forward to checking a new box when I fill out surveys. Another year or so and I will get to move on to a new box. It’s not a major achievement, but it’s a simple pleasure I am looking forward to.If Garrison wants to stay 27 forever, that is fine with me, but I am still searching for that perfect age, the one I will adopt for the rest of my years.Story ideas or comments can be e-mailed to Lexi Moore at lexim@star-herald.com or called in at 962-3561.