No quarter.
25. Quarter of a century. One of those milestones built for greeting cards.
Somebody asked me the other day if I was anxious about my next birthday.
I suppose not. The date is just as arbitrary as any other. It is not like my birthday has suddenly transformed into a menacing memento mori. As can be seen from my driver's license photo, I didn't even reach puberty until I was 22.
[Although a Sword of Damocles shaped-pastry would be a welcome and tasty gift.]
More often I suffer age vertigo in relation to other people.
Like my brother who just finished his AP American History exam and will be taking driving lessons this summer.
Or seeing old college friends. Who, sometime during the past year, have become hyper-aware of their own aging.
Marriage discussions? I can handle. 401(k)s? Whatever. All appropriate topics of conversation among interstitial adults.
But preemptive anti-aging lotions? That weirds me out. I just barely learned how to shave.
It is like they have already inherited the senescent anxiety of their Baby Boomer parents. That Herod's prophecy has finally been fulfilled: a generation of congenital gray hair (and crow's feet).
Maybe for them I should start a line of Cioran Hallmark Birthday Cards:
"My mission is to kill time, and time's to kill me in its turn. How comfortable one is among murderers."
Somebody asked me the other day if I was anxious about my next birthday.
I suppose not. The date is just as arbitrary as any other. It is not like my birthday has suddenly transformed into a menacing memento mori. As can be seen from my driver's license photo, I didn't even reach puberty until I was 22.
[Although a Sword of Damocles shaped-pastry would be a welcome and tasty gift.]
More often I suffer age vertigo in relation to other people.
Like my brother who just finished his AP American History exam and will be taking driving lessons this summer.
Or seeing old college friends. Who, sometime during the past year, have become hyper-aware of their own aging.
Marriage discussions? I can handle. 401(k)s? Whatever. All appropriate topics of conversation among interstitial adults.
But preemptive anti-aging lotions? That weirds me out. I just barely learned how to shave.
It is like they have already inherited the senescent anxiety of their Baby Boomer parents. That Herod's prophecy has finally been fulfilled: a generation of congenital gray hair (and crow's feet).
Maybe for them I should start a line of Cioran Hallmark Birthday Cards:
"My mission is to kill time, and time's to kill me in its turn. How comfortable one is among murderers."
posted by d l wright at 5/16/2007 06:43:00 PM
7 Comments:
I've liked being 25 a lot. I married Rachel. That was good. Opened a 401(k) account (also good). Then actually put my college knowledge to work and made a informed financial decision.
25 is good.
And while I have had the... "whoa, that was 10 years ago moments" that freaked me out, mostly it seems... cool?
pfff. i've had a 401k since i was 18.
what's weird is i've had a 401k for 7 years.
so i guess i'm saying i agree.
My anxiety stems from the fact that a week after I turn 25 Joey will be turning 1...25 doesn't seem to be so old anymore to me because I should be much older than am. A year ago today I was frustrated to be gaining weight...not preparing for motherhood. My life is unrecognizable from that point in time...
in 5 years i'll be half the age of my parents.
some of you guys may be closer.
i just realized that on my dad's birthday yesterday. (he turned 55 for those of you who got 17s in the math section of the ACTs)
the only reason i don't like 25 is cuz it's on the downhill side to 30. 30 seems kinda old to me.
i like getting older. early-mid 20s are kinda bogus, if you ask me. i have no idea what i'm doing. things can only get better from here.
I agree completely, Ben. That's what I was trying to say...I feel like I'm not old enough yet, like I should have had three more years under my belt to be a competent parent. The past year aged me a lot though, I think...but you're right...it can only get better from here. My dad just turned 60, that's stranger for me...all of a sudden he is an old man, when he's never aged for me before.
I don't use anti-aging creams, I just have hip problems. I'm considering seeing a chiropractor. Does that make me old dl?
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