Hmmm…you’re too old for what?

At work the other day one of my (younger) peers at work said to me: “I admire you for writing a book and publishing it the way you have at your age.”

I tried to ignore the obvious insult and replied (I hope less huffily than I felt): “First of all it took me 6 years to write that book so I was considerably younger when I started. Second, who says that writing and publishing is a young person’s job? Third, “ (and here I lost my cool) “How old do you actually think I am? My aunt wrote her memoir in her 80s?”