Since childhood, I’ve know that “a pint is a pound, the world around.” Right? Teachers explained that a pint is 16 ounces, and 16 ounces is a pound, ergo 1 pint = 1 pound. Simple. Memorable.

But of late, as I’ve begun to question more and more of my long-held assumptions, even this pint/pound parity has come into question. There were two unexamined assumptions upon which this “truism” was based—that the medium being measured is water, and that the measure is in fluid ounces.

As a newbie beekeeper, I’ve learned that a pint of honey weighs not one pound, but one and a half pounds. And while a pint of my childhood marbles does indeed weigh a pound (yes, I have kept my marbles to this day, if you really must know), I realize that if I were to weigh a pint of my steel ballbearing shooters they’d likely weigh in at even more than honey.

So why has this come to mind after all these years? Well, with age I’ve come to appreciate that “nothing’s as simple as it seems—usually.” And much of what I learned years ago is no longer true. And “reality” is much more mysterious and paradoxical than I could have begun to imagine in earlier years, or, for that matter, more paradoxical that I can envision in these later years.

This realization has been both disconcerting and comforting. I had early on assumed that by age forty all life’s questions would be resolved, with smooth sailing thereafter. Little did I know. These days I’m often distressed by the ever-increasing press of adult awareness and responsibility, sometimes yearning for simpler childhood days.

On the other hand, even as I become more humbled by life’s imponderables, I am also being unburdened from the weight of knowing all the answers, and becoming less constrained by the shackles of judgmentalism—both judgment of others and, first and foremost, judgment of myself.

So I’m embracing my “golden years,” tarnished at times by unwelcome challenges, but overall forming a patina that may not have the lustre of childhood innocence but nonetheless has its own charms and rewards.

And that “a pint is a pound” maxim? Well, it all depends. Is that a pound in fluid ounces, or are we talking about a pound avoirdupois, or maybe a troy pound? Gotta keep checking those assumptions.