Ten years after the fact, the word is out on what they're calling in the British press the "world's oldest natural mother".

With an apparent attempt to keep her son out of the glaring light of media attention, the now 69-year-old woman chose to keep quiet about her age and his birth way back in 1997. She was 59 at the time and became pregnant with no fertility treatments, donor eggs, or any other assistance ... aside from whatever her husband contributed, of course.

The woman's older son ... 43 now ... attributes his little half-brother to good genes, and adds that neither his mother nor his step-dad seem their ages, and that everyone in the family looks younger than they are.

At fifty-six with two little kids, all I can say about this story is: Hooray for adoption!

Pregnant at fifty-nine just does not appeal ... but that's me. Others seem to embrace nausea and the constant pressure on the bladder that I found less than comfortable ... and reflux and hypoglycemia and swollen ankles -- anything I've forgotten? ... well into advanced years.

Fine.

Another 59-year-old, this one in Texas, is proving that age is just a number ... or, that the passing years really do take a toll on a person's ability to think clearly. (Heck! Maybe it's just a denial thing?)

Anyway ...

This geezer felt that he'd really missed out on something by being kicked out of college for fighting before the end of his senior year way back when.

Doesn't qualify for a lifelong yearning in my book, but, once again, who am I to judge?

"I actually grieved for more years than I can remember the loss of that senior year," said Flynt, who'd been a team captain and the leading tackler as a junior. "What really got me was I felt that was MY football team and I had let them down. ... I don't know if I ever got over it, but I finally learned to live with it."

Now that Mike Flynt is "a grandfather and a card-carrying member of AARP" he's grabbed his regrets by the horns and is attempting to wrestle time by going back to college and getting on the team.

"I think it was Carl Yastrzemski who used to say, `How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?' I'd be in my late 20s or early 30s, because that's how I feel," said Flynt, who has made a living out of physical fitness. "That's been my approach to this whole thing. I feel that good. I'm just going to find out if I can perform and make a contribution to the team."

(Carl Yastrzemski? Oh, yeah ... that famous philosopher.)

His old coach has a bit of a different take on Mike:

"I told him he's an idiot," said Jerry Larned, who coached Flynt at Sul Ross in 1969 and counseled him at the start of his comeback. "I said, `Gosh, dang, Mike, you're not 20 years old any more. You're liable to cripple yourself.'

The article doesn't mention his wife's name, but I'm guessing ... Wendy?

So, I'm wondering: What would happen if the 59-year-old mom was married to the 59-year-old college football player ... would they put the kid in daycare so she could be a cheerleader and celebrate their 60th birthdays at a "Cypress Hill" concert?

You know, I'm not big on all the act your age stuff that gets thrown around at the mature set, and I do believe that age is just a number, but ... but, I'm also rather fond of the idea that growing up means that there are some things we can comfortably, and with no concern about humiliation or not living up to expectations, take a pass on while we concentrate on other things.