Crossing the Border

Crossing the Border - meaning Summary

Aging Measured by Company

Ogden Nash compresses a life-stage observation into a four-line epigram. He states that aging truly begins when one’s descendants outnumber one’s friends, shifting social balance from peers to family obligations. The line reads as a wry, economical judgement about time, mortality, and changing social worlds, using humor to mark a moment when generational succession becomes the defining fact of one’s social life.