Of growing young and growing old

I saw my first white hair today. Not gray. White. It was a startling white against the remaining, just washed and shampooed and shined black, black hair. Actually, Patta saw it and ofcourse I thought he was joking and refused to believe that I could have anything less than glossy black on my hair until he actually pulled it out and gave it to me, a silver present that I really didn't want. I have been feeling my chest tighten with panic all morning - this is me, a 31 year old who has always assumed that I would age gracefully when the time to age came, but right now? And here I was, panicking because of one white hair and then panicking because I was panicking. You get my drift..how does one age gracefully when you are terrified of one white hair?
On another note, Vinay had his first Bala Vihar session last night and I was so proud! Here is where my youth lies, in my sons. I see it everyday in their eyes, their curiosity in everyday mundane things, reinforcing to me how blase I have become about my world. When the teacher was talking to the kids about the Ramayana, one little girl, all of 7, piped up and said " I have a question - why didn't Kaikeyi banish Rama into exile like forever?Why 14 years?" and just like that, I felt like someone had shaken me to the core. WHy indeed?