Have you ever looked at your life and thought, “Well, how did I get here?” I don’t mean it in a negative way necessarily (certainly not in my case since I love where I am), but more in a ‘where did the time go?!’ sort of way. You’re living your life, letting the days go by, and suddenly you look around and you’re a grown up.
This realization has hit me several times over the past few years and for whatever reason, it usually occurs as I’m rocking one of my babies at bedtime. It’s probably because it’s one of the few times in my day that I can sit quietly with no interruptions and no multi-tasking. It’s one of the few moments when I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed, and so are everyone else’s. So I find myself in a beautiful house with my beautiful child in my arms, and I think, “I own a home. I have children. I have a husband. I’m an adult?!?!”
I’ve heard people in their fifties say that they still feel like they’re twenty, and although I didn’t doubt their sincerity, I rolled my eyes a bit at the thought. I’m starting to get it though because now that I’m in my thirties, I keep having to remind myself that I’m not a teenager anymore.
Age is such a strangely relative thing. I remember being in kindergarten, riding the bus with the eighth graders, and marveling at how mature they were. As I entered my teen years, my perspective began to change… slightly. ‘Elderly’ changed from 60 to 70. I no longer pictured people in their 40’s as having one foot in the grave, but I certainly didn’t consider them young either.
Allow me to illustrate my teenage point of view. Our high school had a study hall aide who I thought was cute. My friend thought he was far too old to be considered attractive, so he ended up with the nickname ‘The 40 Year Old’. Do you see the perspective a 16 year old has? Forty isn’t exactly ancient, but it’s ‘up there’.
Interesting side note: ‘The 40 Year Old’ wasn’t THAT old because I ended up marrying a guy the same age as him. Moral of the story- Watch out; you might get what you’re after! (Thankfully, in my case, that was a good thing!)
I now have a problem with my 16 year old point of view however. This year I have one sister, two sisters-in-law, and four brothers-in-law turning forty. Just this year alone! And if you add in next year, the total jumps to two sisters, two sisters-in-law, four brothers-in-law, AND MY HUSBAND. I don’t care how impossible it seems; I’m going to be married to a forty year old (a real one). What once seemed so far off suddenly seems quite near (and young).
So those of you who have a few years on me, I want to know… can you tell me? When I’m 40, 50, 60, how old will I feel? Will my body feel the passage of years, but my mind stay solidly in its twenties? Will I still think of myself as a teenager, even though every time I see a teenager I’m shocked at how young they are? I have a feeling that some day in the not so distant future, as I rock my grandbabies, a familiar thought will run through my mind. “Well, how did I get here??”
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Okay, now the fun part! You may have noticed that my writing has been a bit awkward today. There’s a reason! Throughout this post I’ve hidden a ‘theme’, for lack of a better word. It may be obvious to some of you and to others, even when I reveal the answer, you may have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s your job to figure out the secret theme. If you’re the first one to do it, I’ll feature you in an upcoming post.
So here are the rules:
1. If you have no intention of being featured in an upcoming post, DON’T GUESS!
2. All guesses must be made as comments on this blog post. Don’t comment on my Facebook page or anywhere else. Only comments here will count.
3. If more than one person guesses correctly, the winner will be whoever has the earliest time stamp on their comment. All decisions are made by me and are final. No complaining allowed!
4. If no one can guess it, I’ll start giving more and more obvious hints until someone does.
5. My sister and my mom are not allowed to guess since I used my sister as a guinea pig to see if she knew what the heck I was looking for and my mom was nearby when she gave the correct answer. (By the way, for unknown reasons, my mom’s guess was that I was pregnant…. That’s not even on the same radar as the right answer!)
6. Have fun!
AND THE WINNER IS…. Cassie Bosley!!
What was my hidden theme? I sprinkled a bunch of Talking Heads lyrics throughout my post. Cassie guessed Once In a Lifetime by Talking Heads and although I didn’t use only that song, I think she’s close enough! Yay Cass!! I’ll be getting in touch with you about my next post.
And in case you’re wondering, here are all the quotes I used:
‘Well, how did I get here?’
‘Letting the days go by.’
‘When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.’
‘find (myself) in a beautiful house.’
‘Watch out; you might get what you’re after.’
‘I don’t care how impossible it seems.’
‘I want to know. Can you tell me?’