Age ponderings
Jan. 12th, 2008 03:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annabtgI have realized that, while I am perfectly aware of how old I am and I act my part, I still think of myself as an 18-year-old whenever it comes down to comparing ages.
Case in point: Thodora's boyfriend is 23 years old. Yesterday I asked her, "isn't he a little too old for you?" and she was like, "Surely not, he's only 23!"
Then it dawned on me that I shouldn't be comparing 23 with 18, as I had been doing, but with 20, which is the age both Thodora and I will be turning this year (she's exactly two months older than me).
And then I realized I have the tendency to do that very often. I think of people in their twenties as quite older than me, because I always add two years to our real difference. As for "grown-ups" such as parents, neighbours etc.? I never feel as "one of them"; more like a child not leaving them alone.
And then comes the fact that the children of the neighbourhood (those who were 4-5 when I first moved here, when I was 12) now are children finishing primary school/starting junior high and they talk to me using the courtesy plural (for those not familiar with languages that use it, imagine me arriving at my building, greeting the kids with a "hi, kids" and being greeted back with "hello, ma'am").
I mean, I realize I may look like a fully grown woman, driving my car and all, and I never used to go play with them like my brothers did (and Thodoris still does), or even be seen in the neighbourhood a lot (I'd either stay at home or go out with friends in places away from here).
But still, courtesy plural?? It's kind of disheartening.
/me prepares self to be hit with a two-by-four by the older than her members of her f-list.
I'm off to bed now, ttys! :)
~Anouk.
Case in point: Thodora's boyfriend is 23 years old. Yesterday I asked her, "isn't he a little too old for you?" and she was like, "Surely not, he's only 23!"
Then it dawned on me that I shouldn't be comparing 23 with 18, as I had been doing, but with 20, which is the age both Thodora and I will be turning this year (she's exactly two months older than me).
And then I realized I have the tendency to do that very often. I think of people in their twenties as quite older than me, because I always add two years to our real difference. As for "grown-ups" such as parents, neighbours etc.? I never feel as "one of them"; more like a child not leaving them alone.
And then comes the fact that the children of the neighbourhood (those who were 4-5 when I first moved here, when I was 12) now are children finishing primary school/starting junior high and they talk to me using the courtesy plural (for those not familiar with languages that use it, imagine me arriving at my building, greeting the kids with a "hi, kids" and being greeted back with "hello, ma'am").
I mean, I realize I may look like a fully grown woman, driving my car and all, and I never used to go play with them like my brothers did (and Thodoris still does), or even be seen in the neighbourhood a lot (I'd either stay at home or go out with friends in places away from here).
But still, courtesy plural?? It's kind of disheartening.
/me prepares self to be hit with a two-by-four by the older than her members of her f-list.
I'm off to bed now, ttys! :)
~Anouk.
