Mentors and the Up and Coming Cohort

I’m getting lots of requests for help with applications, letters of recommendation, etc., these days, and it makes me feel old! There's nothing terrible about doing them-- they're usually even fun, and I love interacting with the young and lovely, and this is what is expected of teachers and mentors and such people, but it also feels like I've crossed over some hump-- I used to be the up-and-coming one with everything before me, and now, any way you slice it, there's less than half of my life ahead. And lots of assumptions about how my role now is to help the next cohort move on up. I’m just p.o.'d that I've discovered that I went from being young to old when I wasn't paying attention. I think it happened while Joel was growing up– I always said that having a child late made me not notice turning forty, nor did I really take much note of turning fifty. But now! Now my job is to be nice and help out the young 'uns!