My mother was 44 when I was born, my father 43. I appreciated that we had more money than most of my friends and my parents’ marriage was stable. There was no worry they’d get divorced. The only time I felt embarrassed by it was when a boy in my class said my mother was so old, she’d be dead before I graduated from high school. I don’t know if karma’s a thing, but my mother outlived his by about 15 years.