Usually I'm quite unconcerned with age. I take it in stride that most people think that I'm several years (at times even a decade) younger than I actually am. Other peoples' age doesn't really seem an issue to me either as I have friends across the spectrum. But today I did a bit of wigging out over age, although I guess really it was more about the passage of time than age to be precise. It was a rather foolish and embarrassing freak out and in retrospect completely unnecessary but that's usually the point of wigging out, isn't it?
Why the wigging out? Well, next year is my 10 year high school reunion. In preparation for this reunion people have started to get in touch and such over the internet. This morning I had a particularly dense onslaught of internet contact with former classmates and it sort of pushed me over the edge. I've stayed in touch with an array of friends from that time but there are people that I haven't heard from or seen in quite a while. And the pictures that I see now of them and the things that they have to say about their current lives is both uplifting and bizarre.
I realize that I've progressed down a rather different path in life compared to many of them but I hadn't expected their current lives to be so alien from my own. Some are married, and some have kids, neither of which is surprising at our age but they've all aged. That really doesn't clarify anything does it? I guess what I mean to say is that they look grown up, in a way that I don't think I am. Plus there is a certain quality to memories from that adolescent time in life, as though they will always remain unchanged and in technicolor and therefore so will the people in those memories.
So many times I'm surprised by life and I guess this is no exception. When I was in high school I don't think I considered very seriously where I would be in 10 years and perhaps that is why it catches me so off guard to find that life has progressed. Although had I imagined it that would not have necessarily made me more prepared, would it? Food for thought . . .
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2 comments:
You know I always thought you were mature beyond your years. It was like you were above what people found confusing or needed to dramatize in high school way before everyone else realized it. I think I see it as kind of not needing to grow up, because you already had in the most important sense. You enjoy life! I think sometimes that's harder than being a on a set life course. If in ten years you are anything like you are today, then it will still be an honour to know you! : )
Gribouillis - You're so sweet, such positive energy :) I'm glad that we became friends in high school. It was only for a year but some of my best memories are from that year. In retrospect by the time we were friends I probably was a little more mature than my peers. I had a lot of stuff going on emotionally and I think maybe my priorities had changed a little. Perhaps that's why I seemed to enjoy life, as I still do.
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