I am now old enough to understand how time seems to speed up as you age, and I will admit to a bit of chagrin when my editor recently prompted me to update my newspaper profile picture to be more honest about my aging self.

Of course, I preferred the old picture with fewer wrinkles and hardly any gray hair. But, voila, my public image is my new old self, and though I don’t like it as much, I’ll admit it is more honest.

I did begin to look ridiculously young in the old one.

I can’t help but wonder if someone gave Gov. Ned Lamont a similar kind of nudge, as he recently went virtually overnight from the routine reddish brown hair we’ve been accustomed to over his term and a half in office to a full-on gray helmet of hair.

And he, unlike me, is considering another election run, to stay in office for a third term. It comes at a time when the 70-year-old governor glides toward a growing new debate about the fitness of our aging politicians, with the prospect of a fall presidential election between a 77-year-old Donald Trump and 81-year-old Joe Biden.

I also can’t help but think Lamont, as he ponders seeking another term as governor, might want to wait to see if U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal might retire when his term ends in 2029, opening up a new electoral opportunity for Connecticut politicians.

Lamont has long held his sights on the Senate, sort of the full monty of state electoral politics, the brass ring.

Blumenthal, though, who is about to turn 78, shows no signs of slowing down. He still doesn’t show much gray hair, either.

I was curious about whether Lamont’s decision to go gray all at once might offer some hint about his plans for reelection, but I could not get his spokesperson to even acknowledge the abrupt and remarkable change in hair color and appearance.

After all, Lamont, who is among the richer folks in Connecticut, likes to portray himself as a regular Joe, appearing in commercials for his first gubernatorial campaign driving his own car and drinking a beer, and you would think he would be able to joke about his hair color.

Instead, we are apparently to pay no attention to his new look, like the plebeians who were not supposed to see their emperor had no clothes.

His spokesperson noted that Lamont is focused on running the state well and not reelection at this time. There was no response at all to the question and a follow-up about his new appearance.

It also hasn’t surfaced in any news accounts I’ve seen, although there are some online chat forums where people have been chewing over the governor’s makeover.

Meanwhile, all the other good loyal Connecticut Democrats who are waiting patiently for Lamont to decide about reelection before announcing their own bids must continue to bide their time.

Maybe the Republican side of the race will heat up faster, as 2024 rolls out. One of our own eastern Connecticut senators, Heather Somers of Groton, has already said she may jump in.

But like so many of the Democrats, she is probably waiting to see if the very popular governor will run again. I’ll bet she paid attention to the governor’s new look.

As someone who only recently came to publicly acknowledge his own graying, I would advise the governor to acknowledge his new look and own it.

He is, after all, for all the ambitious gubernatorial candidates in the state, the one to beat, the one for whom everyone must continue to wait.

Maybe we will all be a little more gray by the time 2026 rears its head.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com