I am years in front of you in age, but miles behind you in laser and graphic experience. . . So I am taking a tech college intro level class in graphics/communication to see where it leads me for next semester…hopefully into Adobe Illustrator. BTW: this is my birthday present from my wife. I will be 67 in Sept. 
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Welcome to the wonderful world of lasers! You’re gonna have a blast! (Pun intended.)
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Happy early Birthday I’m not much younger than you and @jules is right you will have a blast.
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I find it so restrictive being limited to the Trace function. I need to learn vectoring ( if that is a word).
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Definitely a word. And I’m pretty sure you’re far from being the oldest one here, although we’re all pretty young on the inside, so it’s hard to tell since you can’t see our outsides. 
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We’ve got a whole lot of tutorials for Illustrator - very basic level - when you decide to get started with it. (I use Illustrator - it’s wonderful for this.)
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That’s an excellent idea! I think you will really get a lot of very useful training that should help your lasering a lot.
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Gotta chime in here. I turned 73 in May. I’ve had my Glowforge, Glowria, since last August and a pre-release before that. I hear you about learning more stuff to make things with your laser. I had to do that, too. I knew absolutely nothing about design or vectors and even less about lasers…and I’ve been having the time of my life for the past 3 years, plus. You’re off to a good start. The more you learn, the better you will get at design and it will only get more and more fun. A warm welcome and a very happy birthday to you!
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Happy Birthday. I’m older than you are and so are several others on the forum. Gotta work harder than the younguns at learning new things, but we can do it.
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Wha?!? No way! I’m not normally one to comment on physical appearance 'cause, meh, who cares. But dang woman, I would have never guessed 73! 
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Congrats on the upcoming birthday and on having a pretty cool wife :-). What a thoughtful gift. It’ll open a whole new GF world for you I think!
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I am only 8 months behind @Xabbess and though i have a fair amount of experience in other software had never touched Inkscape till about a year ago, and I have never touched Illustrator even yet. Far beyond the software however finding your way conceptually with the limitations and superpowers of the laser assisted work is a great and fun adventure all its own. I had to design for many months before actually having the ability to apply any of the ideas and there were many suprises.
Happy Birthday and welcome to the new universe of design and congratulations also on the excellent choice of a wife.
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Well, dang woman…thank you! 
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I will believe 53…but 73? No way!
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