Stop Making Me Feel Old, People!
My friend Melanie got engaged this weekend. I am on the way left; she's standing next to me. She is the natural blonde; I am not. This is us at our Hawaii Chi O semi formal my junior year. (How is it 2007, by the way? When did that happen? Where did the last three years of my life go? Why do I feel like I've done nothing remotely useful with them??) I have this picture in a frame in the living room. (Our living room, I should note, is shamefully "Sarah's Fun at St. Lawrence!" based. My photos kind of took the place over when I moved in, which I do feel sort of badly about.) Anyway, she's engaged, so congratulations, Mel! It is nice to know that, after all our dubious boyfriends and sketchy stories, everyone hits their mid-twenties and suddenly... the guys shape up! People actually date! Quality things happen to quality people.
I can't help feeling like I've suddenly jumped into a time warp, though. Mostly because I don't feel like my post-college years have had any super-defining moments yet. They're just... there. Well, certainly Katrina was a defining moment. But I don't want something like that defining my mid-twenties. I don't know what I'm talking about, I'm just rambling... I wonder why other people's milestones cause us to reflect on ourselves this way. It's not like we're all on the same forced timeline, after all. If you had told me in 2002 that in five years I would be living in New Orleans doing the trying-to-be-a-writer thing, I would have said, "Cool." Whereas right now, I feel like the least cool person I know. This could also be because I haven't shaved my legs in like a week, and it is really wearing on my sense of cuteness. I am a feminist, so I should philosophically be above such things. However. The construction workers turned off the hot water yesterday, so I am over 24 hours behind on the whole showering thing. And before that I was too sick to be bothered.
If you asked Melanie, Chrissy, or V, the lovely and estimable girls in the above photo, they would probably say, "And how is this any different from usual?"
Yeah. Well.
I am going to finally get in the shower, where I will ponder important questions of Life. Such as, was my blonde phase a wholly bad idea? Or should I perhaps get highlights?
Anyway, congratulations to Melanie on the big news! She is an awesome person, and while I have not met The Fiance, I'm sure he is too. :-)
7 comments:
I know what you mean. When I realize that I'm 32 (and a half) I can't believe it. How did I get so old? I'm not sure.
And now, looking back, I tend to think of my twenties as a lot of time wasted doing the wrong things. Which sucks. I guess I learned a lot during that time. Yeah, that's it.
Dude... totally hear you. Kristen Smith got married last summer, and her first child is due this summer. Jenna Thune is getting married this summer, as are two girls from my class (Tracy Frosino and Colleen Riley). I've spent a lot of time lately freaking out about the fact that I am 27, soon to be 28, and I'm totally not where I thought I be in terms of a job, family life, even boyfriend (question: where are you finding these "good" men? Cause I'm convinced that they don't exist... either that or I'm a total jackass magnet.). But the thing is, I'm not sure if you're supposed to have any of that figured out in your 20s. I'm not even convinced if that gets figured out in your 30s. Right now, I'm just kinda going one day at a time, and we'll see what happens. Who knows, maybe everything turns around this year--I'll get published, get a fantastic teaching job, meet the prince charming of my dreams... figure out this "life" crap. Until then, just keep on keepin' on!
Well, I'm dating someone quality... but I guess I didn't find him "out there" in the dating world, so that blows holes in that theory. It was really a total coincidence friend of a friend thing. I met the same weird people as ever while dating-dating. I have been going to a lot of weddings lately, so some people must be meeting these men somewhere. Haha. I didn't know Jenna was getting married! Geez.
Also right with you there on the "not where I thought my life would be" thing. Sigh. I guess it's about the journey... and stuff.
The real kick in the butt is when your 15th high school reunion is the day after you have a baby and you can't go, so you tell your classmate who happens to be your newborn's pediatrician in the hospital to tell everyone hi and why you aren't there... that's when you feel really sucky.
When everyone starts having babies, I'll probably be so traumatized I'll curl up under a rock in the backyard!
Yeah, I'm in a weird place with where my life is right now but just starting to get used to it.
I enjoyed my 20's. I did lots of fun things - traveling, studying, career-building, meeting people, partying I don't regret a moment of it! The best thing about being in your 20's is that you know you have your 30's to make big decisions and settle down. So my advice is: stop worrying and start enjoying, because your 20's is probably the most worry-free time in your life (apart from money worries that is, but that's part of the package ;-)
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