The Beginning of Oldness

When I was a nineteen year-old sophomore in college, my roommates and I had a friend named Pete. Pete lived in our apartment complex and he'd stop by every so often to chat with us. (I think he had an alterior motive to woo my roommate Cassandra.) Pete was a tall guy, a communications major, and just a little nerdy. Like many other BYU boys, he had thinning hair so I assumed he must have been in his mid-twenties.

One evening Pete came over and we all hung out in the living room. The topic of age came up and someone asked Pete how old he was.

"I'm 22," Pete replied.

I was a little taken back. Twenty-two? He didn't look twenty-two! Pete was a lot more mature than other 22 year-olds I knew back then. And he had a lot less hair than most 22 year-olds I had come across.

"I thought you must have been 24 or something," I said. (Or maybe my roommate Jana said that. I don't remember anymore.)

"Twenty-four?!" Pete said, "Twenty-four is the beginning of oldness!"

We all laughed. Being twenty-four was indeed an old age considering my roommates and I were all nineteen. I couldn't even fathom what it was like to be twenty years old and thus no longer a "teen." In my mind, people who were twenty-four were finished with college and had real jobs. People who were twenty-four had bills to pay and responsibilities. People who were twenty-four had their lives figured out and they were just plain old.

ALAS!

Eleven days from now, on December 10th, I will turn twenty-four. According to the immortal words of Pete, I will be old.

Old like this woman.

***It's so funny to me that I used to think 24 was old. And I find it especially amusing that I assumed 24 year-olds had their lives all figured out. I'm sure when I'm 50 I'll still be confused at what I'm doing in life. Hahaha. Let's all laugh at our silly 19 year-old selves!