Age ponderings

[annabtg]

I 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.

Comments

[brianamj.livejournal.com]

It'll get worse. I just turned 30, and I finally feel old enough to be living on my own and paying a mortgage. I still feel like I'm in my low 20's!

[un-sedentary.livejournal.com]

I totally know what you're talking about... forget 18, sometimes I even forget I'm as old as that. Like, last year someone told me that the minimum age for driving around here may change to 18, and I automatically started calculating how long I'd have to wait before I realised I wouldn't.

And I can't count how many times I've thought, "The age limit on this is 14/15? Well, I'm only, what, a year or two older? No, wait."

And yes, I feel incredibly old when I think of kids who were born in the mid-90s as teenagers. Weren't they all toddlers a minute ago?

[theblackshadow.livejournal.com]

Hah it never ends. I think 25 and 26 and 27 sounds ancient, and then mentally slap myself and say, "Crap, I'm 24! I'm right behind them!!"

[doranwen.livejournal.com]

I'm 22 and I still feel 20 or so a lot . . . it's odd . . .

[cyad.livejournal.com]

you know how old I am? well, I still sometimes think I never quite went out of my teens.

plus everyday life always reminds me I don't look my age. Yesterday at the spa (Bday gift from my aunt) the lady thought I was 18. "20 to the real max!"

so...whatever. I think age is a state of mind. if you feel 18 fine! I mean, those digits are, after all, only digits! doesn't define what you are inside.

[cascadingiris.livejournal.com]

i'm just about 17 and a half, and i know that's a bit different from 20, but i still have the younger kids that i know talking to me differently, then how they use to. it's really odd. i feel older then i actually am most of the time, as i am mature for my, or so i'm told, but it can kind of depend on the people i'm with. :)

[annabtg.livejournal.com]

And yes, I feel incredibly old when I think of kids who were born in the mid-90s as teenagers. Weren't they all toddlers a minute ago?

And the worst part is, that those kids have "grown up" much more quickly than we did. We were an innocent generation! I remember being in my senior year of high school and seeing the junior high students sitting there dressed in the latest fashion-victim trends, girls wearing thick make-up, smoking, hitting on each other with unbelievable nerve and thinking, "We were so NOT like that when we were their age!"

And then I feel like an old woman berating the youth for being young. But seriously, it seems to me they're out of line. Most of my friends agree, too.

See ya,
Anna. :)

[gloryforever.livejournal.com]

I understand how you feel. Between looking younger than I actually am and being a couple years ahead of where I should've been in school, I was always the youngest person in a group and consequently thought of everyone else as "grown ups". It came as a real shocker when I realized that the new teacher in school is in fact a whole ten years younger than me. It really messes with one's self perception, doesn't it?

[clockworkplum.livejournal.com]

When I started studying it was all weird to me that our professors were using the plural when addressing us. And I was always replying not with "I am..." but with "We are..."! I got used to it... Now I can't get used to it with people on the street saying "madam" to me when addressing me...

One even said: "Would you buy a card for kids with no parents? You look to be a mum..."

LOOOOOL

So it is nothing that is happening to you darling that didn't happen to anyone else ;)

Years just run by unnoticed and that is their sin :D

[annabtg.livejournal.com]

i'm just about 17 and a half, and i know that's a bit different from 20,

I read that and went, "why is she telling me that, who's 20?... Oh. Wait."

I am hopeless XD

See ya,
Anna.