In my 51 years of life, I have accomplished exactly two noteworthy physical feats. In May 2009, I completed the Vermont City Marathon. Later that year, I became the father of twin girls. As I crossed the finish line on race day, I was excited to be joining two elite societies: that special club of people eager to tell you, unprompted, that they've run a marathon (never mind my time); and the fraternity of old dads. By "old," I mean dads well past the average age of first-time fathers, which is 27.4, according to the U.S. data from the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Ohio's Bowling Green State University. On the day my kids were born, I was 45, a number that many studies of first-time fathers don't even include in their samples. When my daughters were born, I knew that parenthood would be a wild and unpredictable ride. The twin thing, I learned from other parents of twins, would complicate the experience in exponentially joyful and challenging ways. So I did some additional homework on that topic. But the old-dad factor? If there was substantial information out there about starting fatherhood so late in life, I missed it. Luckily, I knew a few other elder dads. In them, I'd seen evidence of the possibilities — even benefits — of being so old I'm off the charts. Generation Gaps One of my closest old-dad kin is Erik Kaarla — and not just because we share a first name and Nordic lineage. He and I were born within a few weeks of each other. Kaarla, who lives in Colchester, is a professor at a couple of area colleges, including Champlain College, where I also teach. And he has 7-year-old twins. However, his hair hasn't turned the color of pencil lead, like mine has, so he's not often mistaken for his kids' grandfather. Despite his youthful visage and proclivities — he teaches tennis, guitar and bass and also plays in a rock band called Third Shift — Kaarla knows that he stands out as an old dad. "When you enter the room and you're the oldest person, that's kind of new," he says, "like I'm supposed to know what I'm doing. I might be the go-to person." He also occasionally finds it odd to be hanging out with young moms at play dates and kids' events. You…
In my 51 years of life, I have accomplished exactly two noteworthy physical feats. In May 2009, I completed the Vermont City Marathon. Later that year, I became the father of twin girls. As I crossed the finish line on race day, I was excited to be joining two elite societies: that special club of people eager to tell you, unprompted, that they've run a marathon (never mind my time); and the fraternity of old dads. By "old," I mean dads well past the average age of first-time fathers, which is 27.4, according to the U.S. data from the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Ohio's Bowling Green State University. On the day my kids were born, I was 45, a number that many studies of first-time fathers don't even include in their samples. When my daughters were born, I knew that parenthood would be a wild and unpredictable ride. The twin thing, I learned from other parents of twins, would complicate the experience in exponentially joyful and challenging ways. So I did some additional homework on that topic. But the old-dad factor? If there was substantial information out there about starting fatherhood so late in life, I missed it. Luckily, I knew a few other elder dads. In them, I'd seen evidence of the possibilities — even benefits — of being so old I'm off the charts. Generation Gaps One of my closest old-dad kin is Erik Kaarla — and not just because we share a first name and Nordic lineage. He and I were born within a few weeks of each other. Kaarla, who lives in Colchester, is a professor at a couple of area colleges, including Champlain College, where I also teach. And he has 7-year-old twins. However, his hair hasn't turned the color of pencil lead, like mine has, so he's not often mistaken for his kids' grandfather. Despite his youthful visage and proclivities — he teaches tennis, guitar and bass and also plays in a rock band called Third Shift — Kaarla knows that he stands out as an old dad. "When you enter the room and you're the oldest person, that's kind of new," he says, "like I'm supposed to know what I'm doing. I might be the go-to person." He also occasionally finds it odd to be hanging out with young moms at play dates and kids' events. You…