Friday, March 24, 2006
There are no grown-ups here
In exactly one week, I will be 26. I am surprisingly OK with this next step on the downward slide to 30. (Other than the fact that it's an even age, that is. I prefer odd ages for some reason.) For a period of several weeks, I've started to think of myself as being 26, which I like to do before every birthday to ease the transition and prevent any embarrassing post-birthday slip-ups of accidentally giving the wrong age. I've gotten so comfortable with the idea of being 26, in fact, that I've already started to envision myself being 27 (it's always good to be prepared, right?), and that's gone pretty well, too.
It's not until 28 that I hit a wall.
It's not that I think 28 is old, because it's not by any means. It's just that 28 was the age that, when I was 14, I identified as being grown up. It was the age of my much-beloved band director, and it was also the age (give or take a year) of Teri Hatcher, who was at that time playing Lois Lane on Lois & Clark. These two women were my role models at that time in my life, and I couldn't wait for the day that my age would double and I would suddenly be a glamorous, successful, together woman. All grown up.
Surely you can see the dilemma here. While I feel at least a little successful, having a job and all, and my fake Chanel sunglasses make me look at least a little glamorous, I certainly am not together by any stretch of the imagination. And I definitely don't feel like a grown-up. Most days I have to remind myself that I'm actually not still 17.
Perhaps in exactly one week and two years, some miraculous change will occur, and I'll suddenly feel like a grown-up. (More likely, I will have decided that 43, which is the age Teri Hatcher will be, is the new grown-up age.) In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy not being a grown-up while I still can.
In exactly one week, I will be 26. I am surprisingly OK with this next step on the downward slide to 30. (Other than the fact that it's an even age, that is. I prefer odd ages for some reason.) For a period of several weeks, I've started to think of myself as being 26, which I like to do before every birthday to ease the transition and prevent any embarrassing post-birthday slip-ups of accidentally giving the wrong age. I've gotten so comfortable with the idea of being 26, in fact, that I've already started to envision myself being 27 (it's always good to be prepared, right?), and that's gone pretty well, too.
It's not until 28 that I hit a wall.
It's not that I think 28 is old, because it's not by any means. It's just that 28 was the age that, when I was 14, I identified as being grown up. It was the age of my much-beloved band director, and it was also the age (give or take a year) of Teri Hatcher, who was at that time playing Lois Lane on Lois & Clark. These two women were my role models at that time in my life, and I couldn't wait for the day that my age would double and I would suddenly be a glamorous, successful, together woman. All grown up.
Surely you can see the dilemma here. While I feel at least a little successful, having a job and all, and my fake Chanel sunglasses make me look at least a little glamorous, I certainly am not together by any stretch of the imagination. And I definitely don't feel like a grown-up. Most days I have to remind myself that I'm actually not still 17.
Perhaps in exactly one week and two years, some miraculous change will occur, and I'll suddenly feel like a grown-up. (More likely, I will have decided that 43, which is the age Teri Hatcher will be, is the new grown-up age.) In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy not being a grown-up while I still can.
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