"Time makes you bolder," a sage once observed. "Even children get older." That philosopher, one Stephanie Nicks, is now 66 years old. According to the USDA's Administration on Aging, about one in eight Americans are Ms. Nicks's age or over. We're all gettin' older, too: the organization projects that by 2030, 72.1 million of us will be over 65, representing about a fifth of the country. I'll be 62 that year. And although we've been afraid of changin', the aging of Gen X-ers like me will drive this country in certain directions. It may be that emerging technologies will widen the gap between rich and poor by allowing some Americans to upload and preserve their conscious natures. Some experts warn against threats to Social Security brought on by increasing lifespans of folks past retirement age. Already the ratio of those receiving to those paying into Social Security benefits is 35:100, and that'll rise to 46:100 by 2030. With Ensure-drinking Boomers thriving into their 80s and even 90s, many face the devastating trauma of outliving their spouses or partners.

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the children within our hearts rise above? Even those who've built their lives around someone who's unfortunately no longer with us can climb a mountain and turn around. A new documentary, The Age of Love, addresses this struggle by focusing on a speed-dating event for daters aged 70 to 90. (Love Connection host Chuck Woolery, by the way, now qualifies at age 73.) It's already earned raves at film festivals and the AARP National Expo in Boston. Now it's coming to Yelm, at Senior Living Rosemont, and better yet? It's free, just in time for Valentine's Day. Awww!

The truth is we all face changing ocean tides, but there's no need to let the landslide bring us down with it. The Age of Love demonstrates a pressing need to give attention to the love lives of seniors, and it seeks to open a dialogue about how to make the last decades of our lives as sweet as the second or third. "No one, not even my children, ask me what's in my heart anymore," one documentary subject observes. It's time for that to change. As one speed dater says, "Let's go on the assumption that the Lord gives you 75 years. You gonna waste it?"

THE AGE OF LOVE, 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, Senior Living Rosemont, 215 Killion Rd. NW, Yelm, free admission, 360.458.1800