Late Bloomers

Prodigies are sexy.

Full of potential and talent, they rock the world for a few years, make a dramatic exit, and leave a legacy.

After being slightly sickened by my own post yesterday (where I was talking about the success of the xx, who are all 20 years old), I decided to look to the old-timers to see if there was hope for me (I'm 28).

Typing "late bloomers" into Google yielded some reassuring results:

• Verdi composed Ave Maria at age 85.
• Harlan Sanders started Kentucky Fried Chicken at 65.
• Ronald Reagan didn't get into politics until he was 55.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder (author of Little House on the Prairie) published her first book in her 60s.
• Rodney Dangerfield didn't start doing comedy until he was 45.
• Cezanne's most highly prized paintings were done in his 60s.
• Alfred Hitchcock's best films, including Vertigo and Psycho, were done in his late 50s and early 60s.
• And best of all - Leonard Cohen did not begin his music career until he was 32!

Time to embrace the Zimmer frame!