Old Hat

The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left. ~ Jerry M. Wright

For the first time in my life, I feel OLD. It seems like just yesterday I was watching the Little Mermaid, wishing I was 16 years old, wishing I could grow up and be a teenager already. I wanted to read YM, I wanted to watch Clueless, I wanted to be free. Now l find myself gravitating toward Better Homes & Gardens, shaking my head at those naïve little teeny-boppers on TV, and wishing someone would tell me what to do and how to do it. How did that happen? 

I always wondered when adults get to the point when they wish the birthdays would go down instead of up. It has just recently occurred to me that I can no longer classify myself as “college age”. I have officially aged out of the Miss America competition. My little brother started college, and my little sister is almost done with college. I am married and I have a son. In middle and high school, teachers would have us write down where we wanted to be in ten years, or at 25 years old. I have no idea what I wrote down, but I’m sure I haven’t done all that I wanted to do, and yet here I am. 

I. Am. A. Grownup. And I don’t really know that I like it.